This is the fifth in a series of posts on “The Fish Kill of 2009.”

At least for today, the fish kill seems to have been contained.  Lots of fish did die, but not nearly as many as in some previous years.  The extensive signs of fish in distress have abated.  As of this afternoon, you no longer see fish swimming around on the surface of the water trying to catch their breath.  They are getting oxygen from the water.

Several good things happened to help contain the extent of the fish kill:

• The staff recognized that the oxygen level was getting critically low.
• The staff proactively took steps to flush the impoundment and bring in new oxigynated water.
• The sky was cloudy this morning, reducing the amount of evaporation while the water was at its lowest level.
• The tide seemed to rise soon enough to prevent the fish kill from “snowballing” too badly.
• It rained for 30 or 40 minutes this afternoon.  This helps oxygenate the water and reduces the salinity.

My guess is that the impoundment was right on the edge of having a big fish kill, but the problem was narrowly averted, perhaps by just a few hours.  Time will tell if that’s the end of the problem for another year.