SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. – Joe Rodriguez has been living on the same canal off of Sandpiper Drive in Satellite Beach for 47 years and he says he's never seen anything like what he saw last night -- thousands of dead fish floating as far as he could see.
"To see all of those white bodies floating in the water and the wind blowing them to the west was scary, at best," said Rodriguez.
But when Rodriguez came out this morning, most of the fish were gone. Satellite Beach Public Works says they cleaned up most of the dead sheepshead and pin fish in the canal this afternoon.
Rodriguez said, "I'm sure the land at the end of our canal is where they all got trapped because they couldn't go any further west."
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the fish kill was caused by decomposing algae blooms, which can use up most of the available oxygen in the water that fish and other wildlife depend on.
"I hope it doesn't get to the point where nothing lives in the lagoon. That would be a disaster," said Rodriguez.
The FWC says there have been other reports this month of fish kills in northern Brevard County by the same type of algae bloom.