A fish kill in the pond at Tolomato was visible on Sunday. First
thing Monday morning, Altamaha Riverkeeper (ARK) began receiving
reports of a “significant” fishkill at
the pond.
ARK Director Deborah Sheppard investigated, and found somewhere
between 300 and 500 freshwater carp and other fish dead. When the
Tolomoto causeway was built many years ago, it blocked the natural
flow of tidal water to the area.
Tidal water from Hudson Creek continued to feed the pond through
a small pipe under the causeway. It appears that recent attempts
to convert the area to a freshwater pond cut off the tidal flow
and reduced the available oxygen, Sheppard said. “Any time
a natural system is altered, there are consequences,” Sheppard
said of the fishkill.
High temperatures heated up the water, exacerbating the situation
and all the organisms living in the water were competing for the
tiny amount of oxygen that existed, and a lot of the fish didn’t
make it, she concluded.
The pond is located on property owned by the Tolomato Island Homeowners
association, but Sheppard explained that because the area was originally
connected to the salt marsh, the area is under the jurisdiction
of the Coastal Resources
Division.
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