Tests revealed two major factors behind this dramatic drop-off in DO, which usually hovers between five and eight ppm, according to Deigel: High levels of sediment in the water, which increases water temperature, and levels of enterococcus bacteria (gut bacteria found in human and animal waste) that shocked the testers. Survivors huddled near the canal’s banks near direct stormwater discharges and by outlets of historic creeks, which provide fresh, oxygenated water into the canal. “Within an hour, their oxygen dropped down to zero, and they basically asphyxiated.” “They got taken by surprise suddenly,” Deigel said of the deceased fish, primarily consisting of young Atlantic Menhaden – often called Peanut Bunker – but also including other species of fish and crabs. Fish begin to die off when DO levels dip to three ppm, according to Dredgers board member Eymund Deigel. What they found was dissolved oxygen (DO) levels near zero parts per million (ppm). The cause of the die-off came to light very quickly, as the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, – an organization dedicated to conserving and advocating for the canal – happened to be conducting water quality tests as part of the City of Water event that same day. “It hasn’t smelled this bad since I was a kid.” “It was just intensely putrid,” said Gowanus resident Joan Rodriguez, as she walked along the canal on August 1. To make matters worse, as the fish decomposed, the foul smell of rotting marine life began to envelop the neighborhood, where it lingered for days. Photo Courtesy Eymund Deigel of Gowanus Dredgers
Brooklyn residents walking by the Gowanus Canal on July 15, 2023, were met with a gruesome sight: the corpses of thousands of fish floating along the surface of the canal’s infamously murky waters, with even more strewn about its exposed banks.
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