'Bloody disgrace': '100-year-old' fish die in Darling River

Mysterious mass fish deaths spark alarm in Australia

‘This is bloody disgraceful, this is the most disgusting thing I've seen

the Independent,

10 January, 2019

More than a million fish are thought to have been killed, including huge cod up to 80 years old, in a river in Australia amid an unusual algal bloom following drought conditions.

The cause of the algal bloom, which is the second to hit the Darling River at Menindee in New South Wales in a month, is the subject of furious debate over weather patterns and the management of dams.

Ecologists fear the impact could be so severe whole populations of local native fish may have been wiped out.

According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), toxic blue green algae is to blame.

A government spokesperson said on Tuesday only heavy rain in the area will flush the algae out of the river basin.

Native species including bony bream, Murray cod and perch are among those affected.

At the time of the first incident in late December 2018, in which 10,000 fish are estimated to have been killed, WaterNSW and the DPI blamed drought.

This time, the DPI admitted the events were “unprecedented” and said the drought conditions were then exacerbated by cool weather.

The DPI’s fisheries manager Iain Ellis said: “I’ve never seen two fish kills of this scale so close together in terms of time, especially in the same stretch of river.”

“In both cases it’s when the algal bloom has been disrupted.

“The first time due to a storm, and in this case, by the cold front that went through.”

The department said it believes the temperature drop would have killed the huge algal blooms, and the plants then decompose, siphoning off all the dissolved oxygen in the water and effectively suffocating the fish.

But anger remains over the management of the water system, with locals pointing out fish over 80 years old have survived droughts and cold spells in the past.

Senator for the state of South Australia Rex Patrick said: “The Darling River is going into cardiac arrest and both the governments are asleep at the wheel of the ambulance,” the senator said, according to ABC news.

He also urged the state and federal governments to allow water being held in nearby dams to flow down the river system to meet “basic needs” of humans and livestock.

Footage of distraught local men Rob McBride and Dick Arnold, holding the bodies of huge dead fish and blaming the government, have gained more than 2 million views.

“This is bloody disgraceful, this is the most disgusting thing I’ve seen in my life,” Mr McBride tells the camera.