The sight and smell of what appeared to be thousands of dead fish in Shellbank Basin, the waterway which runs parallel to Crossbay Blvd. in Howard Beach, angered and upset local residents during the long Labor Day weekend. City Councilman Joe Addabbo reported that a constituent, who had called 311 to report the problem, notified him on Friday after business hours via his 24 hour live hotline.
“That constituent was upset by being told a clean up would be in 10-14 days. That's not acceptable,” Addabbo said, “I responded by immediately going myself to the Starbucks vicinity to see the problem firsthand.” Addabbo then called the mayor's office, which responded by sending out DEP to clean up fish within 48 hours. "I'm thankful a constituent called my 24 hour service and that the mayor's office and DEP responded. I believe now we need to get answers from the NY State DEC as to how the situation occurred and how it can be avoided in the future."
That DEP was on scene and cleaning up was confirmed by Community Board 10 Chairperson Betty Braton. “My home abuts Shellbank Basin,” she said, “DEP's boat and personnel were there working throughout the holiday weekend.”
Similar occurrences in the past have been blamed on a lack of oxygen in the water, causing fish to die. One contributing factor is that the depth of the water in the northern end of Shellbank Basin is considerably deeper than it is further south in the waterway.
Something's fishy in Howard Beach
19 comments:
This happened 6 or 8 years ago when a trop storm was in the area.. Lack of 02 in the water.
Apparently that is why they want to put more oxygen in the water.
its part of nature.
So far there has been no clean up. I live a few houses down from cvs on the water, there has been no DEP crews to clean up this mess. Friday night DEP was in the cvs parking lot spraying powder into the air. Noone will give me answers as to why nobody has cleaned this mess up.
Thats false. There was a DEP boat cleaning up the fish. Also, there were DEPs trucks cleaning up the fish Thursday at 4:30. I was at CB 10 that night and members of the board confirmed that the DEP had been there cleaning up the fish.
I live right on the water by CVS, NOBODY had cleaned up. There was a boat here a week ago that scooped up a few fish said they would be back in a few hours, they never came back. Have you looked by cvs lately, if someone was here, there would be no dead fish in the water, and I mean hundreds. Thats whats wrong with everybody, because an official said it was cleaned up everybody wants to listen to them. How about going and taking a look for yourself!!!!
I was wondering what the smell was when I decided to talk a walk from Old Howard over to ColdStone Creamery.
Disgusting!!!!
And here I thought a body may have surfaced...
Serf Maltese was at CB10 on Thursday night. He said he took care of it on the Thursday before the holiday weekend. The CB said otherwise. They had to explain the problem to him. He didn't have a clue. He even kept calling it a lake.
CB 10 officials said the DEP boat was cleaning up on the weekend but they got more calls during the week saying more fish were dying. They said they were still pushing DEP to get it cleaned up satisfactorily.
What happened?
If local "hero" John Gotti
now "sleeps with the fishes"
did that mean he washed up
with them too?
There is a full size project in the hopper that will install oxygen blowers near theCross Bay Blvd. starbucks and blow oxygen into the basin. This project is being halted by the DEP because it is not in their budget...
It's needed.
I'm sorry but DEP do not know what they are doing. Instead of cleaning up the fish they were masking the odor by spraying perfumed powder into the air. I live right by CVS were the bulk of the fish were, they did not clean up. I'm tired of people saying they did there job, they DID NOT. The storm we had on Saturday washed them away, finally. Lets just hope they dont come back. I have contacted several news stations, DEP, DOH, Addabbo and Mayor Bloomberg, the only one that got back to me in regards to this matter was DOH, and they said its not there problem. We pay our taxes, we should not have to live in such conditions.
It's low dissolved oxygen. Test the water if you don't believe it, the water is probably got close to zero oxygen in it. When you only see dead bunker, it's an oxygen issue. Predator chases prey into the area, prey uses up oxygen, and they die. If it was numerous species of fish, invertebrates, etc., then I'd worry. Google "hypoxic," "anoxic," "dead zone," fairly obvious. It's not like it only happens here.
As to the DEP system, it's in the budget. It's not a direct oxygenating system, so fish kills will continue. I've seen in running since 2000, and there are always fish kills in the heat of the summer.
In terms of cleanup, get serious. People complaining about the ocean smelling like the ocean is about the dumbest thing I've heard. Then you want the government to clean up your property's shoreline; get real. If a person throws trash on my yard, I don't call the city to come clean it up. Grow up and accept what nature is, a flui system that may sometimes give you rotten eggs, or in this case, fish.
Are you and idiot? It does not smell like the ocean, it smells like death!!!! Why should we have to live with our windows closed and hold our noses when we step outside. It is there problem and the need to fix it.
Yes, the fish kill smells like dead fish. Woohoo. There are plenty of places that smell worse in NYC. Right now it smells a little worse than a fishing boat that hasn't been cleaned thoroughly. Unless you live directly on the water, or you have a nose like a bloodhound, it don't even notice it a block away.
If we didn't build within 30' of the water, nobody would care, but since Howard Beach is being McMansionized, everyone around here feels "special" and assumes it's someone else's problem to clean up. It's a natural, low oxygen, fish kill. If you own waterfront and there are dead fish on it, clean it up, just like I clean up random stuff thrown on my yard. If you're a marina owner and own the area that the slips are on, clean it up for your customers, it's part of their expectation for a clean marina. The only portion NYC should clean up is that main channel since they likely own that area. DEP, our sewer/stormwater people, don't even have a combined sewer outfall here like in other waterbodies in NYC, yet people expect them to clean it up. At best, I would expect that if individual fish don't sink after a couple days of decay, wash out, are eaten by other animals, etc., people might ask Dept. of Sanitation or Health to clean it up if rats/raccoons show up.
If you want to fix the problem, get DOT to close/clean up there outfalls into Shellbank, get waterfront owners to limit fertilizing their lawns, get the marinas to offer free sewage pumpouts for boats, etc. Why do you think Shellbank has low oxygen; it's because of all the junk that goes into it directly from the Howard Beach area. Can't blame DEP when they don't have a sewer outfall. Someone should definitely call someone regarding the white stuff coming out from the outfalls by Roma and Starbucks. No idea what is doing that, but it looks like somebody has an illegal connection to those outfalls and is dumping it into Shellbank.
First of all, I live on the water, and I dont live in a mansion. I pay rent just like everyone else and I dont feel special. Secondly you have some attitude on you. Third, the fish are decomposing, and its not a handful of fish, its thousands. Also you smell it along crossbay Blvd heading towards Vincents and you smell it along 157 Avenue. If its not DEP's problem why did Addabbo call them when it first happened to clean it up. Why was fox 5 here to investigate? Get your facts straight before you open your mouth. How would you like to live a few feet from thousands of dead fish, not be able to open your windows or have to hold you breath when you walk out the door.
I know Fox 5 did a report on it. They talked to Gold's Gym members and CVS patrons who said "It's smells out here!" While olfactory issues may be a "fact," I'd rather here about the problem, it's cause, and it's remedy from qualified sources. NY1 and NBC4 actually talked to DEP and DEC to get answers from scientists.
Addabbo calling DEP is nothing new. Constituents call his office commenting on dead fish, he asks his staff to determine who to contact, and they tell him DEP. The primary reason for contacting DEP, rather than other agencies, e.g. Sanitation, Health, DEC, etc., is because DEP has skimmer boats that can quickly remove the fish. While DEP is cleaning up the area again today, the dissolved oxygen is likely still extremely low, so fish will continue to die for a while until oxygen levels in the water go up again.
I agree I would not want to live with dead fish on my shoreline, but if I did, rather than asking government to clean something up, I'd go get a garbage bag and clean up my portion of the shoreline myself. I don't ask gov't to get people arrested on DUI charges to come remove bottles/can in my yard, I take them and recycle them. If gov't cleans it up, so be it, but I dislike hearing days/weeks of complaining when the community as a whole could clean it up much more quickly. International Beach Cleanup day is on 9/20 this year, maybe I just hope residents will notice that there is a lot more to clean up in Shellbank Basin (and elsewhere) other than dead fish. While the Basin likely could have a 30cy dumpster worth of dead fish in it, I wouldn't be surprised if the community could easily clean up numerous 30cy dumpsters of bottles, cans, bags, cigarette butts, wood debris, and oher various types of trash.
While I can't deny that this is likely the worst fish kill in the Basin in decades, fish kills of varying degrees will happen every year afterwards until the community decides on a way to fix the problem of 1) too many nutrients entering the Basin, and 2) the underwater berm located at the southern end of the Basin that is limiting tidal circulation.
How can you ask the elderly to clean up the waters or the disabled. Get real. Not everyone has boats to go into the water and clean up by there homes. This is a health hazard and the officials should have had this matter resolved by now. Cleaning up bottles and dead fish are two totally different things. The fish are dying because DEP pollutes these waters by dumping toxic waste. DOH said to contact DEP when I called them in regards to this matter.
you are wrong ther is oxygen in the water its that someone is putting something into the water which is killing the fish becuase the birds are eating the fish and they are dieing to DO NOT FISH THERE at all there is poison in the water wathc out!!!! you can fish just DO NOT EAT THERE watch out!!!!!!11
Thank you. Finally someone who has a brain. Thats what I've been trying to say this whole time, but someone on here is trying to say thats false. They just want to believe what there told instead of looking at it for themselves. Thank you.
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