Web Desk
Millions of dead fish have washed up in a river near a small Australian town. Footages show a slick of hundreds of thousands of silvery bodies blanketing the surface of the Darling River near the town of Menindee in a remote part of New South Wales, around 1,000km west of Sydney.
The deaths are believed to have been caused by an unseasonal heatwave, phenomenon state officials say is related to the “heatwave conditions” that are sweeping the country.
According to these officials, the die-off was down to low oxygen levels and state fisheries officers have been sent to assess the situation, with the rotting carcasses causing a putrid stench for residents.
“These fish deaths are related to low oxygen levels in the water (hypoxia) as flood waters recede,” the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in New South Wales said in a statement.
“This event is ongoing as a heatwave… continues to put further stress on a system that has experienced extreme conditions from wide-scale flooding,” the DPI said.
“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,” it added.
Its water division posted on Twitter: “Dissolved oxygen levels remain a concern for fish health. “There is a large number of fish deaths (predominantly bony herring) in the Darling River between Lake Wetherell and Menindee township.”
