In Australia, millions of dead fish have been discovered in a river
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Local authorities said Friday 17 March that millions of dead and decomposing fish have blocked a large section of a river in a remote area of southeast Australia that has been hit by a severe heat wave.
The New South Wales state government says millions of fish have died in the Darling River near the village of Menindi, the third mass extinction in the area since 2018.
According to the local government, the number of herring and carp increased sharply in the river after the recent floods, but the water has since receded. “The death of these fish is associated with a decrease in the level of oxygen in the water (hypoxia), as the flood waters recede.”The authority stated in a press release that the heat wave exacerbates the phenomenon.
“A dead fish as far as the eye can see.”
Videos posted on social media showed boats in the midst of thick schools of floating fish, the surface of the waterway almost invisible:
#Breaking: Massive fish kill in #Menindee outback in NSW, just weeks after 10 out of 1000 fish died -… https://t.co/OgDVOTMnRv
#UPDATE: Video from local #Menindee Graeme McCrabb… @NSWDPIE_Water confirms millions of local fish deaths. Reason = L… https://t.co/MMiXFKiwMy
“It’s really horrible, there are dead fish as far as the eye can see”Testifying to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Graeme McCrabb, a resident of Menindee, speaks of the environmental consequences “limitless”.
Previous mass extinctions of fish in Menindi had already been attributed to a lack of water in the river, but also to a spread of toxic algae over an area of about 40 km. Floods and droughts have devastated the village of 500 residents in recent years.
