I'll start this one off simple: The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is trying to eradicate hydrilla in Spring Bayou. Local officials agreed to put 11K triploid grass carp in this body of water, but never erected a barricade to keep them from migrating downstream across the concrete dam into the Red River. Now they are spraying herbicides all over everything. They methodically spray all along the both sides of the bayou under the cypress trees and in the shallows and reeds. The cypress branches that were hit with whatever they are spraying are chemically burnt. The leaves are a red-brown and appear dry enough to ignite with a match. The reeds and cattails are all brown, and the native aquatic plants are hald-dead.

I know from extensive observation that the grassy shallows in this particular body of water is home to a very wide assortment of aquatic fauna such as fry (of nearly all species found here), juvenile fish, mussels and clams, grass shrimp, several species of crawfish (one of the species almost exclusive to the grass is white and black mottled), frogs of all sorts, bullfrogs, bullfrog egg masses, fish egg masses, amphiuma, and these two-toned brown/tan newts that have spotted bellies among other things.

My concern is that these herbicides are screwing up the natural balance of everything in the waterway. The grassy areas are home to juvenile fish and forage species of all types. All bull aside - fish, bivalve, frog and other amphibian eggs must be somehow affected by being hit with herbicides. The eggs of such fauna remain in the water and I believe that these eggs are at least semi-permeable to water. If these eggs are sitting in contaminated water, then these chemicals are being absorbed into the eggs. Small fish must also be affected in some way as well. I cannot imagine how any frog's skin could be unaffected by these herbicides. Most of the species that inhabit the aquatic grass are small and composed mostly of water (i.e. grass shrimp).

There was a significant fish kill after Hurricane Gustav last year, but no one species suffered a truly debilitating loss. Only a small amount of some representative species were observed dead after this storm. After Hurricane Rita, there were way more dead fish than Gustav, but the fishing rebounded rather quickly. Now, the waterway seems devoid of fish. Two bass tournaments were held and a total of ~4 bass were caught between both competitions. I suspect that this problem is not cut-and-dry, but rather a combination of many factors. Still, dousing everything along the banks with herbicide cannot be beneficial to any species (or their young).

I will add some photos next time I get a chance.

Does anyone have any insight to offer regarding this situation?