Cause of Bloody Run fish kill still eluding investigators
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
The cause of an April 18 fish kill on Bloody Run Creek, near Marquette, is still eluding Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) investigators.
Officials tallied 898 dead fish, mostly trout, along a three-mile stretch of Bloody Run from Spook Cave to Iris Avenue. DNR Environmental Specialist Brett Meyers said the culprit could range from a pollutant in the water to a rapid temperature change in the stream.
“I am still interviewing landowners near Bloody Run to try and determine a cause,” Meyers noted last week.
Theresa Shay, a natural resources technician with the DNR, said the department will not take any special steps to replenish the population.
“There are plenty of fish both upstream and downstream,” she said, “and they will re-populate on their own.”
Shay encourages landowners to remain vigilant. In this case, the fish kill was reported on a Saturday evening, and DNR environmental and field office staff couldn’t respond until the next day. That delay has made it more difficult to determine the cause.
“If you see dead fish or something unusual, try to report it immediately,” she said. “The sooner you can tell us, the sooner we can get on site and try to tell what happened.”