December 29, 2020 — Numerous reports of dead and dying bunker fish washing up on Long Island beaches in recent weeks have prompted state officials to collect samples for study.
Distressed fish — possibly sickened by low water oxygen levels or rapid changes in temperature — have been spotted from the lower Hudson River near Peekskill to Staten Island and beaches on Long Island’s North Shore and the East End, officials said.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has sent fish samples and water quality data to Stony Brook University’s Marine Animal Disease Laboratory and Cornell University for examination, officials said.
Bunker, or Atlantic menhaden, are a popular bait fish that number in the billions from Nova Scotia to Florida. Hundreds of millions of the fish are harvested annually for fish oil, fertilizer and fishmeal, authorities have said.