Tuesday, February 04, 2025

LDWF gives statement on fish kills

The Great Blizzard of January 20-21, 2025 gave us record low temperatures and record snowfalls up to 13 inches across most of southern Louisiana, and a winter playground wonderland.  But it came at a high cost for our inland coastal fisheries.

Almost immediately after the cold snap, reports began to surface on social media of fish kills across the coast, mostly mullet, speckled trout, black drum, and redfish. Now the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has released their own assessment.

Once travel advisories were lifted, LDWF field biologists began investigating coastal areas for dead fish resulting from the historically cold weather and continue with those field efforts.  Water temperatures in a large portion of the state's coastal areas fell below critical temperatures (40 degrees F) for saltwater species such as Spotted Seatrout and Red Drum for several days.

LDWF has investigated 71 fish kills statewide while documenting coastwide observations in each major basin.  The collected data indicates fish mortality occurred coastwide with concentrations of kills occurring in some areas where fish likely did not have time to leave shallower areas or have access to deep enough, and slightly warmer, water in which to take refuge.  

While kills were spread throughout the coast, not all coastal areas were affected and not all to the same level.  It appears the highest levels of speckled trout and black drum mortalities were in the Terrebonne/Timbalier Basin, and the highest redfish and sheepshead mortalities were in the Barataria Basin.  In general, the highest overall mortalities of all species occurred in the marshes between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. One exception was striped mullet, which had high mortality east of the Mississippi River.

When compared to the freeze of late December 1989, where water temperatures remained near freezing for about 100 hours near Grand Isle, LA, this freeze was not as long in duration. Based on some social media reports, it appears the scope of the kill was not nearly as bad as 1989, but still significant enough to impact fishing for the next couple of years. LDWF biologists will continue to document dead fish encountered and investigate fish kills relayed to them by the public.

At this time, LDWF is not anticipating the need for any management or regulatory changes as a result of this event. However, several groups such as the Fly Fishers International (FFI) Gulf Coast Council are encouraging all anglers to practice catch-and-release. And if they must keep fish, keep only what they need and release the rest.  

LDWF is encouraging the public to notify of any fish kills by calling 1-800-442-2511.  For more information about fish kills, visit https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/fish-kills.