Iowa DNR
Fish Kill DatabaseDB

Fish Kill Event - Hardin Creek

Jefferson

Event ID
981
Date of Kill
8/18/2019
Waterbody Type
River/Stream
Cause Origin
Unknown
Cause
Unknown
Mode
N/A
Magnitude
6 (25,001 - 50,000 fish killed)
Estimated Fish Killed
41,869
Kill Length
10.40 miles
Valuation
$61,676.93
Investigation Expenses
$1,047.64
County
Greene
ESD Field Office
FO 4
Fisheries Office
Black Hawk Lake Office
LongDD
-94.36615
LatDD
42.04536
Created Date
8/28/2019 8:14:51 AM
Last Update
2/9/2024 3:28:00 PM
For more information about this fish kill event, contact the Field Office or Fisheries Office listed above.
Impacted Assessment Segments
Lat/Long uses WGS84 datum

Highlighted river segments indicate those impacted in part or whole by this fish kill event. It is not meant to represent the actual extent of the kill.

Onsite Comments

Fisheries spoke with two separate individuals that had been on or around the creek within the killed segment during the day on 8/17/19 and 8/18/19 and they did not observe any dead fish. This leads us to believe that the fish kill began sometime during or after the evening of 8/18/19, but before 8/21/19 when the kill was reported as fish were observed in various states of decay by 8/21/19. Also, fish were found on top of rocks in the middle of the stream and higher up on wetted sandbars suggesting that a high water event had occurred and when the flows subsided the dead fish were left where the water once was. Rains occurred the night of 8/19/19 and 8/20/19 and could have been enough to raise the creek for a short amount of time. This suggests that the kill occurred before at least one of the rain events.

SPECIES

NUMBER KILLED

MONETARY VALUE

Minnows, shiners, dace, chubs

27,057

$2,435.13

Catfish spp.

4,169

$21,260.28

Sunfish

1,321

$19,815.00

Smallmouth Bass

275

$4,125.00

Walleye

44

$660.00

Crappie

2

$30.00

Sucker spp.

7,290

$12,801.55

Darters, Stonerollers

300

$117.78

Common Carp

271

$255.13

Freshwater Drum

88

$50.82

Gizzard Shad

1,052

$126.24

Total

41,869

$61,676.93