A devastating disaster has struck the fish population of an Australian river for the second time in four years.
Current estimates of the fish kill in the Darling River, near the 500-person town of Menindee in New South Wales, reach as high as a million dead fish, according to the New York Post.
A massive algae bloom was blamed for the deaths of thousands of fish in the same area in 2019.
Cameron Lay, director of freshwater environments at DPI Fisheries, called the massive deaths “very distressing,” according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
He said this kill could be “on par” with the 2019 mass deaths.
A fresh maior fish kill at Menindee Weir pool near Broken Hill. Locals say one million dead. @2GB873 @9NewsSyd pic.twitter.com/YCkA78NbgL
— Chris O’Keefe (@cokeefe9) March 17, 2023
“The reports from late yesterday, early this morning … [suggested] we were looking at thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of predominantly bony bream — which is a native species — that have died,” he said Thursday.
“Those estimates are well and truly into the millions now. We are seeing tens of kilometers where there is fish really as far as the eye can see, so it’s quite a confronting scene,” he said.
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