Expect smaller fish hatch, environmental expert said

FORT MYERS, Fla. – An unseasonably wet January will affect the upcoming spawning season, washing entire schools of fish and other organisms out of mangroves and estuaries, an environmentalist said.

With murky, brown water surging down the Caloosahatchee River, environmental expert Rae Ann Wessell worries that this year’s fish hatch could be a total loss.

“So we’re getting this perfect storm of cold cool weather with some cold fronts that have come through, the red tide and now the releases and it’s messing up the the natural cycle,” Wessell said.

The effects of Lake Okeechobee releases could be devastating for professional fishermen, Wessell said.

“That’s people enjoying fishing, that’s guides taking people out to find those fish, that’s people coming and walking the beaches and kayaking our waterways and it’s definitely an impact,” she said.