Millions of dead decomposing fish have clogged a large section of a river in remote southeastern Australia hit by a severe heat wave, local authorities said on Friday (March 17).
The New South Wales state government reported that millions of fish had died in the Darling River near the village of Menindee, the third mass extinction in the area since 2018.
According to the local government, populations of bony herring and carp have risen sharply in the river following recent flooding, but the water has since receded. "The death of these fish is related to the low level of oxygen in the water (hypoxia), as the flood waters recede," the authority explained in a statement, adding that the heat wave is aggravating the phenomenon.
"Dead fish as far as the eye can see"
Videos circulating on social media showed boats amidst thick schools of floating fish, the surface of the waterway almost invisible:
"It's really horrible, there are dead fish as far as the eye can see," Graeme McCrabb, a resident of Menindee, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), speaking of "immeasurable" environmental consequences.
Previous mass fish extinctions in Menindee had already been attributed to the lack of water in the river, but also to the proliferation of a toxic algae over nearly 40 kilometers. The village of 500 people has been ravaged by floods and drought in recent years.
