‘Confluence of events’ may have caused mysterious fish kill off Nova Scotia
HALIFAX — Federal scientists now say there may have been a “confluence of events” that led to hundreds of thousands of dead herring washing ashore off southwestern Nova Scotia.
Alain Vezina, regional director of science for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), said Thursday there were unusually large schools of herring in St. Marys Bay in late November when they began turning up dead by the thousands on a 100 kilometre swath of shore.
Vezina told a Nova Scotia legislature committee those numbers were unusual, but such “totally unpredictable” population spikes do happen.
At the same time, the area was struck by volatile weather, including high winds and temperature dips, he said, and predators may also have had an influence.