What's killing the fish? Community seeks answers after hundreds of Atlantic striped bass wash ashore

DINGWALL, N.S. -

A video making rounds on social media shows hundreds of dead Atlantic striped bass littering the shoreline Monday along North Harbour in Dingwall, N.S.

Ray Briand is a local fisherman who knows the waters well. He says concern has spread quickly through the fishing community.

"I've been here all my life. I'm 43. I've never seen anything like this,” Briand said. "Is the fish toxic? Was the water toxic? A lot of people in the community enjoy fishing these fish and love eating them."

Jeff McNeil is president of the Port Morien Wildlife Association. He's worried this fish kill could have further negative effects on the area's ecosystem.

"We are concerned about the birds of prey that are feasting on it because we don't know what affected these fish,” McNeil said. “Was it a pollutant? Was it just climate change?  Water temperatures? That's up to the biologists to figure out."

Trevor Avery is a biology professor at Acadia University who also heads up the Striped Bass Research Team. He says this was likely caused by a drop in water temperature as the weather got much colder from Sunday to Monday.

"It's a natural thing that happens from time to time,” Avery said. "A super-chill event, there's a number of names for it. Essentially the mixing of that water, and all of a sudden the fish are in a very different environment and they just can't cope."

In an email to CTV News, Fisheries & Oceans Canada says it's determined there are no projects or industrial activities likely to have caused the mortality.

They add that fishery officers are gathering samples, Environment and Climate Change Canada has been notified, and that mortality events can be the result of natural die-offs, including conditions like rapid temperature changes.

"We had a really, really warm week before this, and then the night before these fish were found, we had an extreme cold drop,” added Briand.

Briand says he and others in the fishing community are hoping for definitive answers sooner rather than later.