Summary of Reported Fish Kills in Kansas during 1983

Abstract

Sixty-five fish kill incidents were reported to the Kansas Fish and Game Commission during 1983. These involved nearly a quarter million individual fish mortalities representing a monetary worth of about $160,000. The mean number of mortalities per incident was 1608 with an associated mean loss value of $1,150. Pond kills comprised the most frequent water body class investigated with 35 reports being received. Streams suffered the most significant fish mortalities with two reaches in western Kansas sustaining estimated losses of nearly 370,000 fish because of water depletion. This constituted over 80 percent of all fish mortalities from all reported fish kills in 1983. Natural phenomena exceeded all other sources in causing fish kills. Problems stemming from agricultural origins contributed to a large majority of total fish mortalities. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURES The Kansas Fish and Game Commission (KFGC) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) cooperate in investigating and reporting fish kill and water pollution incidents. Procedures for this interagency coordination are described in a memorandum of understanding signed by both agencies on 22 July 1982. This document outlines specific responsibilities of KFGC staff to estimate fish mortalities in the event of natural or man-caused fish kills. The primary responsibility of KDHE staff is to obtain necessary evidence and conduct sufficient investigations to determine the cause of the fish kill. The KFGC has collected and maintained yearly information on fish kills since 1960 with summaries of pertinent data being provided to KDHE and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their respective reporting needs. Field techniques for estimating fish mortalities and corresponding monetary values followed procedures described in "Monetary Values of Freshwater Fish and Fish-Kill Counting Guidelines" (American Fisheries Society, 1982). Suspected causes and pollution sources are based on best available This content downloaded from 157.55.39.163 on Wed, 21 Sep 2016 04:39:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Table 1. Summary of 1983 fish kills in chronological order. Severity Numbers of Source Body of water County Date Miles or acres affected of kill fish killed Value of fish killed category" Specific cause of fish kill Pomona Reservoir Osage 1-24 NAb NA 300 NA O Reservoir releases stilling basin Lake Waltana Sedgwick 2-14 NA NA NA NA N Normal gizzard shad die off Coffee Creek Johnson 2-14 NA NA NA NA I Discharge of crude oil by vandals Fourmile Creek Butler 3-13 5 miles moderate 420 $ 185.70 A Feedlot discharge Chase State Fishing Chase 3-14 109 acres light 10,051 2721.33 N Winter kill Lake Pond (Anschutz) Russell 4-15 NA total NA NA I Brine from disposal well Pond (McMurry) Crawford 4-25 1 acre moderate 260 296.73 I Mined land drainage Pond (Sump) Clay 4-25 3.80 acres light 36 150.58 A Pesticide (atrazine) Ponds (Turnes) (2) Reno 5-1 0.25 acres moderate 201 83.30 N Overstocked Pond (Cedar Lake Sedgwick 5-3 1.50 acres heavy 510 424.32 U Unknown Townhouses) Pond (Porter) Cheyenne 5-6 NA NA NA NA N Disease (fungus infection) Pond (golfcourse) Cheyenne 5-6 NA NA NA NA U Unknown Neosho River Morris 5-7 1 mile light 35 9.50 U Unknown Pond (Christiansen) Cherokee 5-7 4 acres light 97 73.58 U Unknown Pond (Pitts) Reno 5-16 1 acre moderate 200 814.00 U Unknown Lake Jivaro Shawnee 5-16 50 acres NA 2000+ NA N Disease (bacterial or fungus infection) Pond (Wise) Miami 5-18 0.80 acre moderate 225 915.75 N Overstocked and disease (Ich) Sarcoxic Lake Leavenworth 5-20 27 acres light 190 285.15 N Disease (bacterial infection) Augusta City Lake Butler 5-24 180 acres light 135 144.50 U Unknown ,? 0 C? t"l