FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) -- A nationwide scare involving mass deaths of fish and birds has now hit ground locally.
A giant fish kill has occurred at Folly Beach, and according to a report by The Post and Courier, one standing at the end of the pier can see a seemingly never ending line of dead fish in both directions.
Officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have confirmed that thousands of dead fish washed ashore behind the former Holiday Inn at Folly Beach and say the fish are all of the same species -- Menhaden.
"We're still waiting to see if DNR can come up with some kind of a clue as to why this happened." Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin said.
If the Fish are not washed away by the tide, Folly Officials will be responsible for the clean up.
Bill Troy was out for his morning jog when he noticed thousands of the silver sided fish washed up on the shore.
" I came down this morning and right now I cam back and saw a bunch of dead bait fish," He said.
Thursday morning's discovery on Folly Beach adds to a nationwide mystery involving similar occurrences of mass fish and bird deaths.
The incident joins recent wildlife deaths at Chesapeake Bay and Lebanon, Tennessee -- adding to a steady growing list of similar incident across the nation.
In the Chesapeake Bay incident, as many as 2-million fish were found dead in what wildlife experts have attributed to cold water stress. In Lebanon more than 100 birds were discovered dead along a highway.
DNR officials believe the incident at Folly to also be cold related as we are experiencing ocean temperatures off the Carolina coast that are below average.
Two weeks ago Isle of Palms beaches were also littered with dead sea life. Dead starfish and jellyfish washed ashore in what experts also attributed to cold weather and cold water temperature.
(This story courtesy WCIV and abcnews4.com)
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