DIE-OFF - FISH - USA (NEW YORK): LAKE ERIE

The [New York] state Department of Environmental Conservation isn't sure what has left a large number of dead fish in Dunkirk Harbor. Hundreds, if not thousands, of gizzard shad -- 12 inch [30cm] long fish that feed on small invertebrates and phytoplankton and are in turn eaten by larger sport fish -- have been found dead or dying in the harbor over the past several weeks.Don Einhouse, senior fisheries biologist for the DEC in Dunkirk, said it's the largest shad die-off he has seen in the harbor in 20 years. "There's a lot more carcasses around than we see in an average winter," he said.Einhouse said workers have sent some of the fish to a laboratory at Cornell University to determine exactly what killed them and expect to have more information in a few weeks. There are a number of possibilities, Einhouse said, but the 2 main suspects are a virus or stress brought on by a long winter. It's possible the die-off might be related to the emergence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia [VHS] in New York waters, he said. Although the virus has no impact on humans, VHS has been blamed for other fish kills across the Great Lakes. Einhouse said the stress of a long winter also may have weakened the fish enough to cause the die-off.He also said that the shad population in Dunkirk Harbor has increased and that it is possible the larger numbers of the fish make the die-off seem larger.The Great Lakes are at the northern edge of the fish's habitat, and they are attracted to the harbor because hot water discharged from the Dunkirk power plant makes the harbor warmer than surrounding waters. Einhouse said2 technicians surveyed the harbor on Tuesday and reported that the die-off seems to be waning. As Dunkirk's commissioner of public works, Tony Gugino is in charge of the city's public waterfront areas. He doesn't think the situation is that unusual. "It's not as bad as they make it sound, like the whole harbor is covered," he said. "It's not."He said that he dispatched workers to clean up dead fish along the boat launch and that they returned with only a couple of garbage bags of dead fish.