COROLLA, N.C. — Hundreds of dead fish are washing up along the shores of Virginia Beach and North Carolina's Outer Banks. News 3 is now learning from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission that this is because of an offshore cold stun event.
“For the next couple days, we're probably going to see some Menhaden washing up on shore. Some areas can be very heavy, maybe hundreds to a1000 fish washing up. Some areas maybe a little more sparse. We're hoping it's an isolated event," said Zach Widgeon, public information officer for VMRC.
Widgeon sharing that from Cape Henry all the way to Nags Head, many people are probably seeing the mass amounts of dead fish on the shore. As Widgeon explains, the cold stun events occur when temperatures quickly drop out in the ocean, impacting marine life.
“This is all coming from really quick overnight temperatures dropping, bringing the ocean temperatures down to like 30 to 32 degrees," said Widgeon.
Widgeon shares the species we are mostly seeing are Menhaden Fish, which has a huge population in our offshore waters.
"There are so many menhaden out on the East Coast that you're going to see them affected and washing up more than any other species," said Widgeon.
News 3 had seen some viewers and posters on social media wondering if this had to do with an environmental spill or even coming from fishing nets, but Widgeon says this is all natural.
"This is not a fisheries event, this is not a result of a fishing spill or a net bust or anything. This is 100% of a natural occurrence coming from cold weather," said Widgeon.
Widgeon also explaining that though this look like a lot of dead fish, the population is going to bounce back and that we shouldn’t be alarmed if we continue to see more fish washing up in the coming days.
"We hate to see it happen, but it's nothing to be concerned about, as far as a fisheries health standard," said Widgeon.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality tells News 3 that the N.C. Marine Patrol is aware of the dead fish on the shore and is investigating further. That they had initial reports of scattered fish last week but are seeing larger amounts in the past few days.
In a release sent to News 3, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation identified the dead fish as being menhaden. The foundation went on to say menhaden can die due to "a sudden temperature change, drop in tide, or predators." Menhaden travel in large schools, which in turn, can result in mass die-offs.
Watch: Mass die-off of menhaden seen in video taken by Chesapeake Bay Foundation
“This incident, which is still unfolding, illustrates how important it is to get a better understanding of our Chesapeake Bay menhaden population. Unfortunately, this effort has been needlessly delayed by Omega Protein and their McGuireWoods lobbyists in Richmond," Chesapeake Bay Foundation Forage Campaign Manager Will Poston said.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) says their staff "did not observe any abnormal water readings". VDEQ also confirmed all the dead fish are menhaden, adding that they did not have visible injuries.
"The consensus is that the fish kill is due to natural causes most likely due to cold water temperatures. DEQ measured a water temperature of 6 degrees Celsius off the Sandbridge Fishing pier. Literature suggests that this is below the lower temperature threshold for Atlantic menhaden," VDEQ said in a statement sent to News 3.
