Millions of dead fish choke Australia’s Darling River as disaster strikes

It looks like a scene straight from Apocalypse – the end of the world as one sees millions of dead fish floating in a river in Australia called Darling.

This huge mass of rotting and dead fish has completely choked a massive stretch of the river which as per a report in sciencealert.com is located near a remote and small town of Menindee in New South Wales. What makes it worse is the heat wave that is sweeping across the area.

Footage of the river truly depicts this bizarre scene as it shows boats trying to plough their way through these dead creatures enveloping the river from bank to the other with nothing visible below it.

There was a boom in the population of fish including the carp and bony herring in the river because of the floods that had taken place recently. With the floodwater receding, the fish are now dying off in very large numbers.

Explaining this, the New South Wales Government in a statement issued by them said: “These fish deaths are related to low oxygen levels in the water (hypoxia) as flood waters recede. The current hot weather in the region is also exacerbating hypoxia, as warmer water holds less oxygen than cold water, and fish have higher oxygen needs at warmer temperatures.”

​As per the New South Wales Government which confirmed the death of fish in millions, this is the third mass kill that has occurred in the area.

Talking to the news agency AFP Graeme McCrabb, a local resident said this mass death looked to be worse than the ones that had taken place in the past. “It’s horrific really, there’s dead fish as far as you can see. It’s surreal to comprehend. The environmental impact is unfathomable.”

In the past, mass death of fish at Menindee took place when there was scarcity of water in the river due to long-drawn drought and also when there was toxic algal bloom which was spread over 40 kilometres.

Summing up the scene in the river choked with dead fish, Cameron Lay, State Government Fisheries spokesperson said: “We are seeing tens of kilometres where there is fish really as far as the eye can see, so it’s quite a confronting scene.”

With a population of just 500 people, Menindee which has been hit by flood and drought in recent years was the first town to be established on the river Darling.

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