Fish Kill in Gulf Shores

Take a walk down Gulf State Pier and you can't help but notice something in the water. Dead fish, lots of them.

"The middle of last week is when we started getting reports of them washing up on the front beach of the state park," says Chief Biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation Kevin Anson.

For about a week now fish, mostly menhaden and a species of sardine, have been dying by the hundreds, popping up in gulf waters either to be eaten by seabirds or other marine life or just washing ashore.

"Certainly as a fisherman I'm trying to figure out what it's going to do for the bite," says fisherman Ted Will.

Biologist are trying to figure out why and they have a pretty good idea according to Anson. "It appears a natural event."

Anson says it started with an algae bloom. "We do experience some algae blooms this time of year that can cause some problems for marine sea life." That along with calm waters and high temperatures have depleted oxygen levels in the gulf most likely causing the fish kill.

Fish kills have also been reported in Lake Shelby in Gulf State Park and the upper part of Perdido Bay.