Just a few days ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States announced the official entry of the El Niño weather phenomenon, and a few days later the consequences have already begun around the world driven by global warming. Thousands of dead fish, including sharks, were seen littering the beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico, devastating scenes that show the ravages of the climate crisis on nature.
An Ecological Disaster Caused by the Climate Crisis
A phenomenon known as a “low dissolved oxygen event” washed up on southeast Texas beaches in the Gulf of Mexico, killing thousands of fish and other marine life, according to the state’s Parks and Wildlife Death and Spill Team.
Photographs show how Texas beaches ended up littered with thousands of dead fish, most of which were Gulf mackerel, which usually travel in large schools. However, wildlife services reported that sharks, catfish, rays, and trout were also among the victims.
The ecological disaster was such that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Death and Spill Team had to close the beaches for at least two days to find out what happened. Water samples were taken from the Intracoastal Waterway, and near the Brazos River locks, which showed almost zero dissolved oxygen concentration. “Fish kills like this are common in the summer when temperatures rise. If there is not enough oxygen in the water, the fish can’t ‘breathe,'” stated Quintana Beach County Park officials.
What Caused the Death of Thousands of Fish in Texas?
Unfortunately, there was a combination of weather conditions that contributed to the devastating ecological disaster. The combination of warm waters due to global warming, coupled with calm seas with no wind and cloudy skies, created the “perfect storm to deplete oxygen levels along the coast.
When ocean water temperatures exceed 21°C, they typically witness a lower amount of oxygen. “Water can only hold so much oxygen at certain temperatures, and we certainly know that seawater temperatures are rising,” Katie St. Clair, manager of the marine life facilities at Texas A&M University at Galveston, told NPR. “It’s concerning and needs to be monitored.”
In addition, there was no wind, which normally mixes the surface of the water to add oxygen. The cloudy skies limited the input of solar energy into the ecosystem to drive photosynthesis, which also adds oxygen to the waters. The result is a devastating effect of low dissolved oxygen event.
And finally, when a school of fish is trapped within the warm water regions with low oxygen, they often struggle frantically to move and further deplete the oxygen present in their habitat, eventually dying from not being able to breathe.
The thousands of dead fish on the beaches of Texas are further proof that the climate crisis is a complete reality that is already stalking many regions not only on land but in the ocean and the entire planetary dynamics. For its part, NOAA has said that temperatures are expected to rise more and more this year as the months go by and more consequences of the El Niño phenomenon, magnified by global warming, appear.
Story written in Spanish by Alejandra Martínez in Ecoosfera