[ad_1]
Associated Press reporter
March 20, 2023 at 07:58
Contractors are being hired to remove millions of rotting fish from a river in the Australian outback after floods and hot weather caused an unprecedented death toll, police said on Monday.
The fish started dying in the Darling River near the NSW town of Menindee on Friday.
The deaths likely occurred because the fish needed more oxygen in hot weather, but oxygen levels in the water dropped after the recent floodwaters receded, officials said.
Assistant Police Chief Brett Greentree said keeping the town’s water supply pure was the top priority and removing the dead fish was the next most pressing issue.
Trained contractors have been contacted to net the fish out, but a work date has yet to be set.
“I’m certainly not going to commit to the contractors removing all the millions of fish because it really is a logistical nightmare,” Mr Greentree said.
He added: “I understand and acknowledge the smells and sights on the river – no one wants to see that.”
Mr Greentree said authorities were providing drinking water to residents who depended on the river, whose quality was being monitored.
Mass fish kills have been reported in the Darling River in recent weeks.
Tens of thousands of fish were found at the same location in late February, while there were several reports of dead fish downstream in Pooncarie, near the border between South Australia and Victoria.
During the severe drought in late 2018 and early 2019, there was also a large number of fish kills on the Menindee River.
Mr Greentree said the current death toll appeared to far exceed the events of 2018 and 2019.
[ad_2]
Source link