Biscayne Bay is a jewel of our state and the treasured community backyard of Miami. Biscayne Bay generates billions of dollars annually, fueling an active clean water-based economy of real estate, tourism, boating, fishing, sailing, and more. The Bay is a designated Outstanding Florida Water, and hosts the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, and Biscayne National Park. It is also home to over a dozen threatened and endangered species.
On August 10th, a widespread and severe fish kill was observed in northern Biscayne Bay. Reports of dead wildlife, with some fish observed struggling to breathe, were recorded from a wide area within and around northern Biscayne Bay over the following five days. Reports spanned from the Julia Tuttle Causeway to Miami Shores and east to North Bay Village and Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. Dozens of species were impacted, including toadfish, pufferfish, barracuda, rays, snook, eels, and lobsters. The size and severity of this fish kill appear unparalleled for Biscayne Bay. This is not a “normal” occurrence, but rather a sign that the ecosystem of Biscayne Bay is seriously out of balance.
Available data point to the immediate cause of the fish kill being low dissolved oxygen (DO) events. Low DO conditions often result from too much nutrient pollution, which fuels the growth of algae and bacteria. Algal and bacterial growth are fueled by the buildup of nutrients, especially phosphorous and nitrogen, from pollution inputs such as sewage leaks, septic tank leachate, stormwater runoff, and fertilizer overuse. As a result, both chronic and acute pollution inputs are likely the ultimate driver of the fish kill.