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Lake San Antonio closes after thousands of dead fish wash up on its shore

Dead fish on the shore of Lake San Antonio.
Courtesy of the County of Monterey's Instagram page
Dead fish on the shore of Lake San Antonio.

Thousands of fish have washed up on shore, dead, at a recreational lake in Monterey County.

Small fish species like minnows began showing up on the shore of Lake San Antonio during the 4th of July weekend. By the following week, larger fish including catfish, bass and trout were dying off as well, according to the Monterey County Parks Department.

“Nobody can recall in their time where we've had such a large-scale multi-species die-off like this,” Bryan Flores, the chief of Monterey County Parks, said.

Flores said the lake is closed until further notice for safety precautions.

“The only effective way to keep people out of the water would be to close the park entirely, so it was a hard call, but we asked the few campers that were there to pack up and be ready to leave the following day,” he said.

As of now, there is no leading theory as to why the fish are dying.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Monterey County Environmental Health Department have taken water samples. They plan to test for biological and non-biological factors that could impact the fish.

KCBX Reporter Sarina Grossi is a Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo graduate. At Cal Poly, she worked as a news anchor and reporter for KCPR Radio and as the Digital Manager for Mustang Media Group. Sarina was editor-in-chief of her community college newspaper. In her free time, she likes to read, watch movies, do arts and crafts, and go to thrift and antique stores.
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