Fish Kill – Agency Claims & Push Back by Local Anglers – Martinez & Ferguson Lakes

In a recent post on social media AZGFD made the following public statement.

Posted by: Arizona Game & Fish Department – Admin – All-star contributor

Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) staff are aware of the recent reports of fish kills in Martinez and Ferguson lakes near Yuma. The department’s investigation of fish carcasses to date has shown no evidence of a disease outbreak, and water sampling has shown no evidence of golden algae in water samples.
The cause is likely environmental due to increasing temperatures (including recent record heat), low flows, and decomposing aquatic vegetation causing drops in dissolved oxygen in these backwaters.

Reports have indicated that fishing is good on the mainstem of the Colorado River and in other backwaters. The issue appears to be affecting these two generally shallow, lower flow lakes.
AZGFD is continuing to work closely with both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine the cause and monitor the situation.

I shared that post to a Yuma area local fishing group and there was a quite a lot of push back. Some just said bull(puckey), and several others pointed out the fish kill started well before the warm weather AZGFD claimed was likely at least partially to blame. One angler who is perhaps one of the best tournament bass anglers in the state, and whom I have personally known since he was a teenager, said he’d posted questions and they never approved his post, and then later his post was deleted never having been approved.

It’s not a good look for AZGFD. Generally, I rate them as one of the better G&F agencies in the country, but that is in my opinion unacceptable. It may even be a constitutional free speech violation for a government agency to suppress and censor simple criticism, questions, and push back. We have a fundamental right to question government rooted in the very foundation of the country. We aren’t talking about a company spamming a group. We are talking about citizens honestly criticizing government.

I posted the following as a comment on the original AZGFD post: (Slightly edited so as to not show private groups)

I shared this with a local Yuma fishing group on Facebook, and there are several people contradicting your narrative. In addition, people who have come here pointing out some contradictions and asking questions have not had their posts approved. This doesn’t look good. As one of the better G&F agencies in the country (in my opinion) please clear this up for everybody and accept feedback.

My post as of the time of this writing was approved and is still visible. Perhaps AZGFD will come back with better responses to satisfy their critics.

( Updated posted here: https://www.yumabassman.com/2026/04/02/strict-scrutiny-facebook-fishing-groups/ )