Another fish kill is under investigation in southeast Iowa — the second one in the past week in Des Moines County.
The latest case involves Big Creek about a mile west of Yarmouth. Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Kevin Baskins says dead fish have been found over a one mile stretch of the waterway, but it’s expected the fish kill will extend further downstream.
“So far, our people who are on the scene have seen a number of different species of dead and stressed fish including catfish, bullheads, bass, suckers and creek chubs,” Baskins says. The discovery in Big Creek follows an earlier fish kill near Mediapolis. Baskins has an update on the damage in Cedar Fork Creek.
“It looks like approximately 7.3 miles of Cedar Fork Creek were affected and about 53,500 fish were killed. The value of those fish was placed at just shy of $8,400,” Baskins says. It is believed a crop duster dropping farm chemicals is to blame in both incidents. The Iowa Department of Agriculture is helping with the investigation.
“We feel that we do have some information that points us in some directions and we’ll continue to investigate to see if we can determine who is responsible for this,” Baskins says. The DNR was first notified of the fish kill in Cedar Fork Creek last Friday.