Hundreds of fish and other marine life in the Indian River Lagoon washed up on area shores dead Thursday. It's just the latest of many reports of fish kills Florida Fish and Wildlife has received over the summer.
- More than 100 stingrays, other marine life found dead along Pineda Causeway
- Dozens of reports of fish kills since March
- FWC officials checking water samples to determine cause
Residents who live and fish along the lagoon fear things are getting worse.
“Usually there are a lot of fish in this area, now it’s just a few,” said local fisherman Casey Ksun.
The latest fish kill to hit the lagoon was reported Thursday to FWC. More than 100 stingrays and countless other marine life were found dead along the Pineda Causeway.
“I think something is wrong with the water here," another fisherman, Romy Gernandizo, said. "I can see that right now, it’s just so cloudy."
In March, one of the largest reported fish kills of the year killed thousands of fish in the lagoon. Since then, FWC said they’ve had dozens of reports of smaller fish kills filed each month from different locations through out the county.
“It’s getting from bad to worse," said Ksun. "Two weeks ago it looked a little better, but you can see now it’s just slowly deteriorating."
FWC officials said they have sent samples of the water out to a research lab to determine what could have caused this most recent fish kill..
Ksun, however, said he’ll just have to be more cautious of the lagoon from here on out.
“I just fish now for sport, and put them right back, because I really don’t know if you can eat those fish,” said Ksun.
Help may be on the way, though. Earlier this month, Brevard County Commissioners approved a raise in property tax to help fund a $300 million lagoon clean up, to take place over the next 10 years.