BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says that water temperature increases and storms rolling in with extended cloudy weather can lead to fish kills in inland and nearshore waters across the state.

Fish kills, or localized mass die-offs of fish populations, are typically caused by low dissolved oxygen, also known as hypoxia. Hypoxia most commonly occurs in warmer water since it has a lower carrying capacity for oxygen than cooler water, LDWF officials said Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall, stagnant water, decaying vegetation and increased nutrient runoff can all contribute to these conditions. 

"While fish kills can temporarily impact recreational and commercial fishing, aquatic ecosystems in Louisiana are resilient and typically recover naturally. Even in large fish kills, some fish will find refuge from hypoxic conditions in the affected waterbody or connected waterbodies and survive," LDWF officials added.

LDWF said that it is important to document fish kills, whether natural or man-made. Officials recommend reporting them here.