Dead fish on Kerry beach

Hope this is not the 'Red Tide' I was joking with Kieran about last week :oops:
My daughter came back from Inch a few days ago saying there were load's of dead sandeels, shrimps, small fish and some flatties on the shoreline, we went down to look that night and sure enough there were plenty of dead fish about some decent sized ones to, then last night we went to dig some lug from the backside of Inch and we could not believe it, dead worms all over the place, some were just alive which saved the need for any digging anyway. then we took another look on Inch and still a few dead fish about and loads of small shellfish washed in right down the beach.
We took the boat out today in the chanell at the end of Inch, maybe a bad move that, caught the Mackeral ok, but nothing else at all not even a doggy - strange, suppose they could all have been full up after the easy pickings. Anyone any ideas what could be the problem or seen this where you fish???
Cheers Sean,

Hi Seanp ,
Sorry mate but that sounds exactly like the red tide . Dead/dying worms all over the place when it kicked off up Killala way a little while back . Fishing poor for several weeks after that but better now .
For local area reports try http://www.marine.ie/industry+services/ ... hType=Maps
nick

Hi Nick,
Thanks for the link, copied this from the reports page, looks like they know about it anyway, not sure if 'DINOFLAGELATE KARENIA MIKIMOTOI ' is red tide??
Sean,

AN EXTENSIVE BLOOM OF THE DINOFLAGELATE KARENIA MIKIMOTOI HAS BEEN OBSERVED OFF THE NORTH, WEST AND SOUTH COASTS. THIS BLOOM IS PARTICULARLY CONCENTRATED IN CASTLEMAINE HBR. THIS SPECIES HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN FINFISH, SHELLFISH AND OTHER MARINE ORGANISM MORTALITIES. Dinophysis Sp. (DSP toxin producer) have been observed in all the above locations. Low counts of Pseudo-nitzschia sp. have been observed in Clew bay and Bertraghboy bay. These counts can be viewed on our website (http://www.marine.ie/habs) by searching for 'All Phytoplankton' Alexandrium sp. (PSP Producer) have been observed in Castlemaine harbour and Bertraghboy bay. It is requested samples of shellfish be submitted from these areas for PSP analysis to Dave Clarke, Marine Institute, Technical Support Base, Parkmore Ind Est, Ballybrit, Galway

sorry if i sound stupid but what is the red tide?

The tide is a naturally occuring algal bloom - however the algae produce a mild toxin that renders shellfish inedible and can cause fish at the top end of the food chain (that can't escape) problems, resulting in deaths in flatfish in the main and slow movers like dogfish. Scuba divers have reported lots of rays also littering the sea bed in the worst affected areas e.g. Little Kilary.

It takes a couple of weeks to clear - Kilary is gone dirty brown from the dead algae but at least there are live fish moving back into it.

Sean, it will take a week or two to clear in a sheltered bay like around Inch, if you want to fish, move out further into the bay. As my mother used to say, Mocking's Catchin'! :? (I have no idea what it means but I think its the Dub version of "Honi Soit..." i.e. don't mock the poor bugger fishing into the red tide who gets no fish!)

anyhow, here's to a good storm to blow the stuff away...

Kieran,
Really put my foot in it there did'nt I!!! did think at the time it was a bit below the belt of me to write that :oops:
Sean,