Maine News Updates

Tests have confirmed the first recorded case of fish along the coast of Maine being killed by toxic red tide, according to state officials.

A total of 14 Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, an endangered species, were found dead and floating near the mouth of the Kennebec River last July. The unprecedented die-off took place during the most intense red tide outbreak on record along the coast and officials immediately suspected the fish had eaten contaminated shellfish. Results of federal laboratory tests were released today and confirm high levels of the red tide toxin in the stomachs and other organs of three fish.

Sturgeons eat clams, which can accumulate the toxin in red tide algae. Maine's clam flats were closed to digging much of the summer to prevent people from eating the clams, although one woman on Swans Island got sick after eating clams she collected herself. She recovered, although officials warned that toxin levels were high enough in some areas to be lethal to humans.

Last summer's red tide outbreak also coincided with reports of dead eider ducks washing ashore in Cape Elizabeth and sick cormorants at Reid State Park in Georgetown, although red tide was not proven to be the cause.

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