World Photo by Susan Chambers

The carcasses of two Pacific whiting, are on the beach north of Gardiner on Thursday.

They are among several marine fish and shellfish that washed ashore between Florence and Coos Bay recently, prompting some citizens to call state agencies and research institutions seeking answers to the die-off. Several factors may be causing the deaths, say officials and scientists, including the possibility of a low-oxygen or a hypoxia zone off the Oregon Coast, similar to the low-oxygen zone that formed during the summer two years ago. Biologists with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and scientists with the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, a collaboration of researchers from four universities, sent out field teams to check beaches from Newport to northern California on Wednesday and Thursday. Most are finding shells of molting Dungeness crab - not unusual for this time of year - with only a few full crab bodies. "It's a pretty low percentage," Hal Weeks, ODFW marine habitat project leader, said today. University researchers and students also are trying to check ocean monitoring devices offshore to find out if, indeed, there are low oxygen levels. Weather patterns could push the low-oxygen phenomenon closer to shore if it exists.