Originally Posted by
Byron Grant
Hi All
As a keen flyfisherman, I've been visiting the forum for some time now and getting loads of useful info, so a big thanks from my side to all those that have posted on the various subjects. However, I've never really registered on the forum, but felt that I had to when this subject popped up. Now, apart from being a keen flyfisherman, I am also an consulting aquatic ecologist and have seen and investigated a number of fish kills, so felt that I could contribute some guidance on this subject.
When doing fish kills, its critical to be on site ASAP after the kill was first reported (i.e. within the first 24 hours) to start collecting clues... sort of like a fisherrman's version of CSI (cue music). The clues collected at the site within the first 24 hours will basically help to identify the preliminary cause and will often guide the rest of the investigation. Obviously, the more experienced the individual in fish kill investigations, the more accurate the preliminary result. Clues that will need to be collected even before you find a fish to send to a lab are the time of year, the activities upstream of the site, weather in the last couple days, species of fish, size of fish, water colour and temperature,... the list goes on. Once all this seemingly trivial info has been collected, an experienced ecologist can normally make a pretty good assumption as to what the actual cause was even before the lab looks at the fish, and guide the process further. I can't stress enough the importance of collecting this info before making a case... without it, its very difficult to determine the probable cause, and even more difficult to identify the responsible party.
I'm in the process of getting funding from a research organistation to actually develop a manual for the investigation of fish kills in South Africa with the guys from the Department of Water Affairs and Onderstepoort, so will hopefully have some good news about a guiding document soon. In the mean time, if anyone needs a bit of guidance, let me know and I'll help where I can.
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