Millions of dead and increasingly rotting fish block a stretch of river in a remote town in the Australian outback, which is experiencing an intense heat wave.
Videos posted on social media show boats making their way in a sea of dead fishs that almost completely cover the fluvial surface.
The New South Wales regional government said “millions” of fish died in the Darling River near the town of Menindee, in the third such episode to occur in the area since 2018.
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“It’s horrible, really. There are dead fish as far as the eye can see,” Menindee resident Graeme McCrabb told AFP.
The fish population in the river has skyrocketed due to recent flooding, but they are now dying from “low oxygen levels in the water (hypoxia) as the water level recedes,” the local government said.
“The current warm weather in the region exacerbates hypoxia, since warm water contains less oxygen than cold water, and fish need more oxygen at higher temperatures,” he added.
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Previous episodes of massive fish kills in the town have been attributed to a lack of water due to drought and a toxic algae outbreak.
Regional fisheries department spokesman Cameron Lay said it was “shocking” to see dozens of kilometers of the river littered with dead fish.
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