The Department of Environmental Protection plans to take more water samples today as part of its investigation into the massive die-off of menhaden in Delaware Bay. In addition, fish tissue samples will be collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
"Right now we do not have any indication that pollution or a toxic algae bloom such as red tide caused this large die-off," said Bob Van Fossen, the DEP’s Manager for Emergency Management. "We also do not believe that this resulted from the breaking of a commercial fishing net. Low dissolved oxygen levels in the water may be a factor, but this may be difficult to confirm."
One possibility the DEP is exploring is that large schools of menhaden, perhaps driven by predators, massed close to shallows along the shore or in the creeks and rapidly depleted the available supply of dissolved oxygen. The DEP plans to send teams into creek areas to today to investigate, but these efforts are being hampered by bad weather.
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