1000's of dead Asian Carp in Cumberland River
This was posted on Facebook by Paul Rister today.
Thousands, and thousands, and even more, dead Asian Carp below Barkley Dam. The dead fish extend down the Lower Cumberland River to the confluence with the Ohio River. 99.999% of the dead fish are silver carp. Some have been dead a few days, and some are still dying. Although, some lively carp are also jump in the turbine discharge. I would estimate the extent of the fish dying is past. Some dead carp line the shoreline some 10 feet up from the waters edge. These likely left there from recent high water, as the water has now fallen closer to normal pool level.
Since only silver carp were affected, you can rule out water quality issues. You can rule out chemical spills. Basically rule out things that would have typically killed shad (easiest fish to kill) and all other species. The likely cause is a viral infection. It is possible that during the high water, a higher than normal density of silver carp came up the Cumberland River. They all congregated below the dam. With a super high density in a small area, a communicable disease quickly spread. This lead to the the fish kill. To possibly verify this theory, a few live but sick silver carp (fish found swimming lethargically) at the waters surface, where taken to Frankfort this afternoon. These fish will be examined by fish pathologist at Kentucky State University.
We talked to a few anglers fishing in the Tailwaters today (amongst the dead fish)... The report is Striped bass, white bass and catfish are still biting. One boat had 7 nice size striped bass in about two hours.
So the bad news; it really smells like dead fish around Barkley Dam. The good news, a bunch of silver carp have died. Maybe we are on to some type of natural control mechanism.
