Millions of dead fish are clogging the river

According to the New South Wales government, “millions of fish” have already died in the Darling River near Menindee. Videos on the online networks showed boats plowing through a dense carpet of dead fish, beneath which the river water can hardly be seen.

“It’s awful – just dead fish as far as you can see,” said neighboring resident Graeme McCrabb. It had never been so bad, he said, adding: “The impact on the environment is unimaginable.” Fish stocks in the river had risen sharply after recent floods in the region. But now there is an enormous heat wave again, the water levels are falling rapidly and the fish are dying.

According to the government, fish kills are related to low oxygen levels in the water (hypoxia) as flood waters recede. The current heat wave in the region is exacerbating the situation, as warmer water contains less oxygen, but at the same time fish have a higher oxygen demand at higher temperatures.

It is the third time that the Menindee region has been hit by a massive fish kill. The previous time in 2019, the cause was the lack of water in the river due to a persistent drought and a toxic algal bloom. Even then, the New South Wales government warned that it would not be the last fish kill.

The spokesman for the fisheries authority, Cameron Lay, spoke of a “horrifying scene”. For dozens of kilometers, “as far as the eye can see,” there are only dead fish, Lay told Australian radio station ABC. Menindee, with a population of just under 500, is around a twelve-hour drive from Sydney. In recent years it has been repeatedly hit by extreme drought and then by floods.