END OF DAYS ?

NEW ZEALAND

Hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches, leaving holidaymakers perplexed.

People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them.

People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported 'a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast'.

The Fisheries Ministry are currently investigating the situation and said they could not yet say what the cause was.

UNITED STATES

State officials say they are investigating a "very large" fish kill in the Chesapeake Bay, but suspect cold temperatures killed them, rather than any water-quality problems.

An estimated 2 million fish have been reported dead from the Bay Bridge south to Tangier Sound, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment, which investigates fish kills. The dead fish are primarily adult spot, with some juvenile croakers.

Agency spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said bay water quality appears acceptable, and biologists believe "cold-water stress" the likely cause of the fish kill. Spot are susceptible to colder water, she said, and normally leave the upper bay by now. Water temperatures plummeted in late December to near-record lows for that time of year, about 36 degrees. The average air temperature last month was 32.4 degrees, 4.3 degrees below normal, and reached 16 degrees at its lowest, according to the National Weather Service.

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Thousands of dead fish have been found along Spruce Creek, Florida.

The fish have been seen from where the creek starts near the Spruce Creek Fly-In to where it ends near U.S. 1.

Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the two recent cold snaps are to blame for the fish kill.

BRAZIL

Fishermen have found at least 100 tonnes, mainly sardines.

A survey conducted by the Federation of Fishermen’s Colony of Paraná, Paranaguá on the coast of the state, indicates that at least 100 tons of fish (sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead since last Thursday off the coast of Parana.

On Sunday, representatives from the Environmental Institute of Paraná (IAP), the Secretary of State for the Environment and Water Resources (SEMA), took samples to verify the reason for the deaths. O relatório será divulgado hoje. The report will be released today.

The president of the Federation of Fishermen’s Colony of Parana, Edmir Manoel Ferreira, reports that between Paranaguá and Guaraqueçaba at least 2,800 fishermen depend on the daily seafood.


WALES

HUNDREDS of dead fish were found in a marina near Abergavenny today.

The Environment Agency said the fish, mostly bream, carp and roach, were found on the on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Goytre Wharf.

A possible reason is a 30cm drop in the water level at the marina caused by work upstream, but the cold weather, ice and a lack of oxygen are more likely to have killed the fish.

Smaller fish were found alive in the marina and initial tests showed there was no pollution.

Environment Agency officers are continuing their investigations and advising people not to remove or go near any fish.


HAITI

Authorities near the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic are investigating the mysterious death of scores of fish in a lake.

Environmental officials are testing samples, while the government tries to allay fears that it is linked to a deadly cholera epidemic.

Michel Chancy, the Haitian Agriculture Minister, said: “At this time we cannot connect this problem with cholera. Cholera affects people, not fish. The fish don’t have anything to do with cholera. Something else caused this problem. It could be something toxic, a disease.”

Samples are currently being tested at laboratories in the Haitian capital and in Mexico.

The cholera epidemic is affecting thousands across a country still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake.


Western Kentucky sees dead bird problem

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) -- State wildlife officials say "several hundred" dead birds were found near the Murray State University campus last week.

They say grackles, red wing blackbirds, robins and starlings were among the dead animals.

New Year's Eve fireworks have been blamed for causing the deaths of thousands of blackbirds in central Arkansas last week.

The bird deaths made national headlines.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources spokesman Mark Marraccini says someone called police about the discovery in Kentucky, and they alerted state officials.

Marraccini says tests performed on the birds ruled out diseases or poisons. He said the deaths could have been caused by weather conditions or another natural event.


Thousands Of Dead Doves Fall From The Sky In Italy

Thousands of dead birds fall from the sky in Arkansas, New York and New Jersey

BEEBE, Ark. -- Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 blackbirds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile area of Beebe, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."



AND IN KENTUCKY