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Tiny dead fish are rotting the water from latest fish kill in Indian River Lagoon

‘Probably hundreds of thousands if not millions’ of minnows, anchovies observed in Crane Creek

MELBOURNE, Fla. – An unusual amount of dead minnows and anchovies were spotted in Crane Creek, according to Dr. Leesa Souto of the Marine Resources Council.

“We are looking at probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of tiny, little fish here,” Souto said.

The dead fish were floating in Crane Creek around the US-1 bridge giving workers at the marina a job that stinks.

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“I got the call that I needed to bring a mask. It was pretty smelly and not the good fishy when you walk into the seafood restaurant,” Ryan Weber said.

Dr. Souto suspected the cause of the fish kill could be very close.

Crane Creek has a wastewater treatment plant on it.

“When we’ve had rain events and so on sometimes they discharge and we don’t hear about the incident,” Dr. Souto said. “That’s what we’re going to be investigating.”

Also investigating, the FWC said it’s aware of the fish kill too.

“It would be great if we all had nets right now and pick up all these fish because all these millions of tiny, little bodies are now going to rot and all of that decaying tissue and all that stuff is bad for the system,” Souto said.

With the ongoing poor health of the Indian River Lagoon, Dr. Souto believes this won’t be the last fish kill we see.

However, she still said she believes the county is doing its best to restore the lagoon’s health five years since the voter-approved sales tax increase to clean the water.


About the Author
James Sparvero headshot

James joined News 6 in March 2016 as the Brevard County Reporter. His arrival was the realization of a three-year effort to return to the state where his career began. James is from Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

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