Dead & dying fish expected to be seen in Lake Murray. Here’s why striped bass are dying

Dead and dying fish are expected to seen in Lake Murray over the next few weeks, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources .

Boaters are being warned about a striped bass die-off that’s the result of a water-quality phenomenon known as the “temperature-oxygen squeeze,” fisheries biologists with S.C. DNR said Wednesday in a news release.

Striped bass die-offs occur in many reservoirs in the Southeast, and generally happen in Lake Murray during the latter part of the summer, according to the release. Similar summer die-offs have occurred at Lake Murray since 1973, DNR said.

“Each summer Lake Murray becomes stratified into several water layers that have cooler temperatures as you go deeper and various levels of dissolved oxygen, which fish need to survive,” DNR said. “During the early summer months, striped bass, a fish that prefers cool water, concentrate at depths containing the best balance between cool temperatures and suitable oxygen levels.

“As summer progresses, temperatures in the upper layer exceed those preferred by striped bass and some fish become confined to the deeper and cooler waters of the bottom layer. As the oxygen levels in the deepest layer are depleted through natural processes the fish become stressed due to the lack of sufficient oxygen. When conditions persist, many of the stressed fish will eventually die.”

DNR said that any living fish that are caught are safe to eat, despite the die-off, and it encourages anglers to keep fishing. Information about the safety of eating fish that are already dead when caught was not available.

Despite the die-off, the special summer regulations remain in place for the amount of striped bass permitted to be caught, according to the release. The regulations state that from June 1 through Sept. 30 it’s unlawful to possess more than five striped bass a day, making it illegal to continue fishing for striped bass once that limit has been reached, even if the striped bass have been released back into the lake, DNR said.

Anyone fishing for striped bass is encouraged to harvest their legal catch as most striped bass won’t survive being caught and released during summer, according to the release.

DNR stocks Lake Murray with about a million fingerling striped bass every spring, according to its website. the fish will reach the harvest size of 21 inches at about three years of age, according to DNR.

Lake Murray touches Lexington, Newberry, Richland and Saluda counties , as it covers 48,579 acres and has 620 miles of shoreline, DNR said.