Residents along Detroit's Rouge River say dead fish washing ashore is common

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Something fishy is happening along the Rouge River in Detroit, as dead fish have been floating ashore near the Fort Street Bridge.

Local perspective:

The sight is alarming, but neighbors and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources say it's actually an annual occurrence. The few living along a section of the Rouge River, like Calvin Pearson, knew why FOX 2 was poking around the area, and it didn't take long to confirm what they already knew.

"I do my power walk down through every morning, and you smell it coming off the water," he said.

Many can smell it before they see it, an unmistakable scent of rotten decaying fish. As people get closer, they can see it’s not just one, or even a dozen, but hundreds of fish washed ashore.

So much so, it got the attention of Stephen Hill, driving home from work, who had to pull over and see it for himself.

"And I looked over and I thought it was leaves. And, pulled in and seen it was just a mountain of dead fish," he said. "Every year about this time, you smell it."

What they're saying:

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the likely cause of this mass death is a phenomenon known as the Winter Fish Kill.

When the fish that have died in the winter surface after all the ice has melted, a startling sight especially when it happens close to the Marathon gas refinery.

According to the DNR, typically the fish will suffocate from a lack of dissolved oxygen from decaying plants and dead aquatic animals under the ice. Even though the scale of dead fish may appear staggering, the annual cycle has little impact on the long-term health of the fish population.

As for the removal, FOX 2 was told they simply let nature take its course and neighbors say they simply live with the foul scent for a week or two.