Sprat in the canal. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
OVER the last few days you may have spotted the highly unusual sight of thousands of tiny fish visible in the canal and Tralee Bay.
We got the low down on this natural phenomenon from Dingle marine biologist, Kevin Flannery. “A number of weeks ago the little fish, called Sprat, were chased into Tralee Bay by mackerel and possibly tuna,” he said.
“More than likely it was a big school of mackerel that chased them into the canal and they got stuck inside,” he said.
Though the sprat may have escaped the mackerel, ultimately their they’re doomed in the canal because of a build up of plankton that will starve the sprat of oxygen.
“The plankton is called noctiluca and it has accumulated in corners of Tralee Bay like in the canal. It causes low oxygen in the water which in turn causes the fish to die,” said Kevin.
With the amount of dead fish soon to be in the water is there a chance of a pungent smell rising up from the canal?
“The volume of sprat isn’t that great and they break down pretty quick. With the tide coming in and out and there’s a change of weather coming this evening, so some wind and gale should break up the whole thing.”
“With the extreme fine weather we’ve been having for the month of October, the last two weeks have been extremely fine. Out in the sea we’ve had flat calm conditions so this sort of thing accumulates. If we had the prevailing wind and rain which we are normally used to this time of year, so the weather conditions were ideal for it to happen.”
Many people have been making the most of the incredible amount of mackerel around Tralee Bay, with the mouth of the canal and Fenit pier becoming a hot spot for fishing.
Sprat in the canal. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
