(September 6, 2008)—The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries management and Kills and Spills Team said Friday it isn’t sure of the exact cause of a kill that left thousands of fish dead at Lake Fairfield in Freestone County, but will continue to investigate.
The team responded to the lake Thursday after Inland Fisheries management staff members who were conducting an aquatic vegetation survey on the lake discovered the kill.
Species involved included red drum, bluegill, largemouth bass, gizzard and threadfin shad, channel and flathead catfish, tilapia and gar, but most of the about 7,300 fish that died were large red drum, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Friday.
“The fish appeared to have perished where they were found, because prevailing winds were blowing out of rather than into the coves where they died, and fish appeared to have forced their way into shoreline vegetation while still alive,” the Parks and Wildlife Department said.
The fish, which were found along the shoreline of a cove northwest of the dam to the spillway and in a cove about a half-mile south of the main kill site, appeared to have died no earlier than Wednesday, the Parks and Wildlife Department said.
Read Parks And Wildlife Press Release