VIDEO: MILLIONS OF DEAD FISH CLOG AUSTRALIAN RIVER

Sat 18 March 2023:

When a blazing heatwave sweeps over the area, millions of dead and rotting fish have choked up a long stretch of river close to a remote town in the Australian outback.

Videos posted on social media showed boats ploughing through a blanket of dead fish smothering the water, with the surface barely visible underneath.

In the third recent mass kill in the region, the New South Wales government said on Friday that “millions” of fish had died in the Darling River close to the small town of Menindee.

The incident follows fish deaths in the same area in 2018 and 2019 where up to a million fish died from poor water flow, poor water quality and sudden temperature changes.

🇦🇺 Mass fish deahs in Australia

Low levels of oxygen, in Australia's second longest river were to blame for a mass fish die-off recently in a remote part of New South Wales state that saw hundreds of thousands of dead fish found in the Darling River. pic.twitter.com/KGoXS5wktE

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 18, 2023

“It’s horrific really, there’s dead fish as far as you can see,” Menindee resident Graeme McCrabb told AFP news agency. “It’s surreal to comprehend,” he said, adding this year’s fish kill appeared to be worse than previous ones.

“The environmental impact is unfathomable.”

According to the state authorities, populations of fish such bony herring and carp had surged in the river after recent floods, but they were now rapidly declining as the floodwaters receded.

“These fish deaths are related to low oxygen levels in the water (hypoxia) as flood waters recede,” the state government said in a statement.

Mass fish deahs in Australia

“Millions” of fish had died in the Darling River near the small town of Menindee. pic.twitter.com/Br6eGzlv5T

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 18, 2023

“The current hot weather in the region is also exacerbating hypoxia, as warmer water holds less oxygen than cold water, and fish have higher oxygen needs at warmer temperatures.”

Previous fish mortality at Menindee, which is roughly 12 hours’ drive west of Sydney, have been attributed to a poisonous algal bloom that covered more than 40 kilometers of the river and a lack of water in the river due to a prolonged drought (24 miles).

“Unfortunately this won’t be the last,” the NSW government had warned in 2019.

State government fisheries spokesman Cameron Lay said it was “confronting” to see the river choked by dead fish.

Menindee has a population of some 500 people and has been ravaged by drought and flooding in recent years.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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