MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Florida Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologist is set to examine the possible causes of a major fish kill that left up to 15 different species of fish dead and dying in the Indian River Lagoon, authorities with the state agency reported Sunday.
But the news came as little comfort for residents like Courtney Yelle, 80, of Cocoa Beach. The one-time Pennsylvania resident moved to this tourist haven eight years ago, settling in a condominium along the Banana River for its scenic view. Sunday, he awoke to the sights and smells of hundreds of fish floating listlessly in the murky brown waters of the river. There in the small, lapping waves rippling near the dock, he saw decaying carcasses of flounder, puffer fish and other species.
"It's terrible. It's just the worst I've ever seen," he said of the fish kill, which began to be reported late Friday and Saturday, stretching along the lagoon from Titusville to the Pineda Causeway area. "Something has gone wrong and I don't know what it was. It's just sickening," Yelle said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials confirmed calls have been made to the state agency's fish-kill hotline. An operator there also said that a fisheries biologist had been contacted by late Sunday. Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman Greg Workman was also reached by Florida Today, but he said he was also attempting to gather more information. According to the commission's website, 100 puffer and sheepshead fish were reported dead at Watts Park on Merritt Island on Friday.
