Slaughter of fish in the river after the floods

There is now talk of an "environmental catastrophe" in New South Wales, Australia. Millions of dead fish clog the waterways in the town of Menindee: "A dangerous tragedy that will increasingly compromise water quality," warned Green Water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann, adding that the fish must be removed as soon as possible, before further aggravating the ecological disaster.

The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment ensures that it has ongoing monitoring and community information service in place. The kill of fish, mainly herring, is confirmed to have been caused by months of flooding and unusually high temperatures, which resulted in extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen in the river.

Last weekend's extreme temperatures exacerbated the problem and threaten to lead to more deaths in the coming days.

Locals complain of an unbearable stench, with videos on social media showing a thick layer of fish floating on water that has turned a bright green color in some places.

“Whether as a result of receding floods or water mismanagement, federal and state governments must act now to clean it of the millions of rotting fish that cover miles of river, and to prevent water quality from degrading further. », said the spokeswoman of the Greens.

(Unioneonline/ss)