A look back: 2009′s Rock River fish kill

June 17, 2021 at 12:01 pm CDT

Bobby Bushman of Sterling pulls a nice sized catfish out of the water at the Arduini boat ramp in Rock Falls. A massive fish kill has swept through the river killing mostly bottom feeding species in 2009. Recovery from that massive die-off is being studied more than a decade later. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@svnmail.com)

On Tuesday, staff photographer Alex Paschal chronicled the efforts of Matt Laws and Spencer Phillips working with the Illinois River Biological Station to track fish recovery on the Rock River. With that in mind, here is a look back to 2009 and the photographic record of a massive die-off related to an ethanol spill.

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Gasping for oxygen, three catfish come to the surface at the Arduini boat ramp in Rock Falls amid a massive fish kill sweeping through the Rock River in 2009 (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@svnmail.com)