Fish kills due to the freeze were reported along the entire Texas coast. Mark Fisher, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s coastal fisheries science director, said it was the most severe fish-killing event since 1989.
The freeze of 1983 and the twin freezes of February and December 1989 marred coastal fisheries and changed they way they were managed for years to come. The early assessment indicates this recent arctic blast was not as destructive to fish populations as the 1980s freezes.
“Those three events in the 80s, those were the benchmarks and they were devastating. They were a lot worse,” said Fisher.
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A historic cold air outbreak brought more than just burst pipes and power outages to Texas, it also brought a significant fish kill to the Gulf Coast.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is asking residents to report areas that they see large fish kills in.
They said because of the extremely low water temperatures, many fish have died and have a chance of resurfacing on the shoreline.
Experts said that water temperatures that plummeted to 40 degrees in Galveston Bay resulted in lasting problems for fish, crabs, turtles, and other marine life.
Fish mortalities were found in six bay systems including Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Upper Laguna Madre, and Lower Laguna Madre, according to TPWD.