3 million fish die at Salton Sea

[jpak]

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060803/NEWS0701/608030315

A harbor overflowing with dead, rotting fish Wednesday drove off boaters, fouled the air and provided what could be a whiff of the future for life in the murky depths of the Salton Sea.

An estimated 3 million dead tilapia choked off Varner Harbor at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area and countless more dead fish drifted on open water in the wake of a "green tide" that likely sapped oxygen from much of the troubled lake.

The die-off - thought to be the largest since more than 10 million fish washed up in the summer of 1999 - was an ugly reminder of the sea's power to produce, then destroy, wildlife on a massive scale.

And recent funding cuts to a program that kept previous, albeit smaller, die-offs from reaching the shore left workers powerless to keep the rotting fish from overwhelming the air and seashore at the Salton Sea recreation area.

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[SpiralHawk]

1. Bush and the republicons can take credit for this, too

they are so hell bent on trashing the environment to make Mega Bucks for their corrupt republicon cronies. They deserve the "credit"

[nancyr]

6. A reeking and dead sea

The Salton Sea smells like hell on any given day.....it needs to be allowed to die once and for all. I was there a few years ago and it was one of the most noxious experiences to be had. This is not what people think of when they hear the word "sea." Salton Slough is more apt.

[cyclezealot]

9. It was an accident yes.

But the reality it has a role to play in the environment. Bird migration, etc. But, you think it reeks now, wait until it dries up. I wonder why ocean water could not be pumped into it to replenish it's sources with somewhat cleaner water.
It reeks because society has allowed it to. But, certainly, California is to water short to allow fresh water to be used to replenish it.

[cyclezealot]

2. That's bad enough

I read a report today, there are 100 dead spots in the world's open oceans.
One of off of Oregon right now. Crabs and fish are expected to die. It if off of Florence, Or. and it is 1500 sq miles in area. Larger than Rhode Island.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Aren't some cultures almost totally dependent upon fishing as

a source of food and income? We are fouling our own nest. Personally, I don't think we are going to last another 100 years, and maybe not even another 10.

[NVMojo]

4. I agree ...our days are numbered ...the worst species ever!

[bananas]

5. The Salton Sea is an irrigation accident

An aquaduct from the Colorado River to San Diego burst in the middle of the desert, and a sea was born. It's not just an artificial sea, it's an accidental artificial sea. It's the large blue oval in the earthquake map below. The fish didn't swim there on their own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea

The Salton Sea of today was created starting in 1905, when heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell and then breach an Imperial Valley dike. It took nearly two years to control the Colorado River’s flow into the formerly dry Salton Sink and stop the flooding.

<snip>

The lack of an outlet means that the Salton Sea is increasingly becoming an unstable system: variations in agricultural runoff cause fluctuations in water level (and flooding of surrounding communities in the 1950s and 60s), and the relatively high salinity of the agricultural runoff feeding the Sea has resulting in an ever-increasing level of salinity.

http://eqinfo.ucsd.edu/dbrecenteqs/anza/AZ_R_map.html

[XemaSab]

8. It was saline to begin with

The area used to be a large inland sea that evaporated, but when it was reflooded, the salt in the soils dissolved into the newly formed lake.

It would be a lot like Mono, but for the huge amounts of ag runoff. That's the blessing and the curse.

[XemaSab]

7. There's also a couple blue-footed boobies

in the north end. In riverside. :P

[hunter]

10. The geology of the Salton Sea is interesting...

The basin the Salton Sea sits in is below sea level and the delta of the Colorado river reaches across the southern end of it. When the fan of the river is flowing north this basin fills, and when it flows south this basin drys up by evaporation. The current incarnation of the sea was induced by accident, but it would have eventually happened again without any human intervention.

As things stand now, the Salton Sea is an entirely synthetic ecosystem. The health of that ecosystem is entirely dependent upon human interventions. Basically, if the sea is dying it's our own damned fault.

There have been many very good proposals for keeping the sea healthy, including some that would actually generate electricity, produce food and fuel, and provide expanded habitat for migratory birds, but nobody is willing to pay for these enhancements.

So far as I see into the future, ocean levels will rise, this entire basin will flood, and whatever humans remain in the area will keep themselves busy looking for food and beating their neighbors to death with sticks.

[Dead_Parrot]

11. Ah, but those proposals...

...would involve spending money on something constructive. It's much more fun to spend money on bombs.

Apparently.