Artificial mouth opening fosters anoxic conditions that kill small estuarine fish

Fish kills are not uncommon within estuaries in many regions of the world. In seasonally open systems, which are common in temperate areas, they are often associated with mouth openings. Such a kill occurred in July 2005 in the Surrey Estuary following a closed mouth period of seven months resulting in the loss of many thousands of fish. At the time the fish community within the estuary was under investigation which provided comprehensive data of this population prior to the kill. Monthly water quality monitoring was also being conducted prior to the kill and also carried out on a daily basis following the mouth opening. The Surrey was stratified during the closed mouth phase, isolated waters below the halocline had stagnated and become anoxic. As a result only waters above the halocline contained oxygen concentrations capable of sustaining most fish. It appears that if a mouth opening happens under low flow conditions, a shearing effect occurs within the water column where surface waters flow out to sea leaving deeper waters behind. This resulted in only anoxic waters being present for in excess of six days and was responsible for the fish kill. Fish sampling of the Surrey Estuary was conducted three and six months following the kill and those data were compared to that collected in the 12 months prior to the event. Three months after the kill few fish were collected within the estuary and included marine opportunists near the mouth and estuarine resident species in the far upper reaches of the system. However six months following the kill large numbers of estuarine resident species were collected throughout the Surrey Estuary. As many species were euryhaline, it is believed that some individuals migrated into freshwater reaches of the Surrey to escape the anoxic conditions within the estuary. As conditions improved they recolonised the Surrey Estuary. The high fecundity and rapid growth of these small, short lived species probably aided in their re-establishing populations within the estuary. It is clear from this research that artificial openings of estuaries should be avoided during low flow periods when oxygen concentrations are low. It also appears that many of the small estuarine resident species common in seasonally open estuaries are capable of recolonising estuaries following fish kills. The effects on larger, longer lived resident species are not known but likely to be more detrimental due to longer time required for them to reach sexual maturity.