THEY’RE ALL DEAD: Freeze too much for fish to handle

By JOE R. BOWLING, JR.

Casualties of the winter freeze that hit the area totaled in the thousands as seen here. Dead fish came rolling ashore Thursday and by Monday they covered the shore¬front. Pablo Cruz and Mark Ferrell were among the workers dispatched on the scene Monday. By the early afternoon they had cleaned up as many as three thousand dead fish. (Staff photo By Joe R. Bowling Jr.)

Fish numbering in the thousands washed up along the Fingers Area at Port Isabel this past week­end as a result of the freez­ing temperatures that hit the area last week.

Director of Public Works for Port Isabel Bal­di Alaniz said his crews were on hand early Mon­day morning with a rather large task at hand. “This one is one of the biggest yet,” said Alaniz. “It’s not as big as the one that hit us in 1983 but this one ranks up there as big.”

The first fish started washing up on the docks area in Port Isabel Thurs­day and by Monday City Manager Ed Meza had placed the call for the pub­lic works department to get involved in the clean-up. By 2 p.m. six bins were full of fish and were being hauled away.

“We estimate it to be somewhere between two and three thousand fish,” said Alaniz. “Each of the bins was 96 gallons and they were all full.”

Crew members had to not only clean up fish that had washed up on the rocks, but they also had to bring in the dead fish from the waterways as well.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Feb. 17 edition of the Port Isabel South Padre Press or click the PRESS link on the homepage.