Strange sight and smell at Weems Creek

[J.A. Veil]

Last evening, I lauched my kayak at the Tucker St ramp into Weems Creek. The tide was very low. As soon as I got out of the car, I could smell an unpleasant scent. I thought someone had left rotting fish in the public trash can there. Upon closer investigation, I saw dozens of dead crabs and crab legs scattered around the gravel next to the ramp. rip1


My first thought was that dissolved oxygen had dropped sufficiently to cause a "crab jubilee". This event features crabs walking onto shore to escape water with insufficient oxygen. As I looked around, a few of the crabs were reddish (like a steamed crab), some were natural color, and others were intermediate colors.

As I paddled and fished a mile or more of shoreline over the next 90 minutes, I did not observe any other dead crabs. I therefore ruled out the crab jubilee theory. A new theory is that someone had caught a bunch of crabs and allowed them to die before he could cook them. He then dumped the dead crabs next to the ramp. Those exposed to the sun and heat turned reddish, while those in the water retained mostly natural colors. I'm sure there are other explanations, but in any case, I hate to see bay resources wasted. Plus the aroma was really unpleasant. :52:

[J.A. Veil]

Here are two photos I took last evening.

[27 sailfish]

That is odd.
Your theory on them being dumped makes sense - if it was related to Weems Creek water quality - most likely be dead fish there as well.

Wonder if a local shop dumped their die offs.