They die in places as diverse as the open Gulf of Mexico and tiny, hidden east Texas creeks. They die in the shadow of Houston skyscrapers and in remote stretches of west Texas rivers. They die under the withering heat of August and the brutal frigidness of mid-winter. They die in heaps of millions and in clumps of a few dozen. And, they add, that's a conservative estimate.
Fish kills are a fact of life on Texas waterways, and have been for thousands of years.
But today, human activities are the most common reason behind the 100-200 fish kills documented in Texas each year. In particular, human activities that create water that holds too little dissolved oxygen to support aquatic life are now documented as the most cited reason behind fish die-offs in Texas. That documentation comes, in large part, from a small group of scientists working in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's resource protection branch. The Kills and Spills team, created earlier this decade and concentrating on fish kill work once adjunct to the myriad duties of all TPWD fisheries biologists, allows the agency to focus more attention on fish kills than was possible in the past. That increased focus comes from public demand, Buzan said.