According to official sources, hundreds of thousands of fish were found dead in the Darling River in Australia in the third environmental disaster of its kind in two months.
However, about a million fish have died near Menindee because of the presence of oxygen-absorbing algae and conditions that have been aggravated by drought and abrupt temperature changes.
The news of dead fish was confirmed by New South Wales Regional Water Minister Niall Blair after photographs of dead fish were published by residents on Monday.
The town which is located around 930 km from here is the centre of this ecological catastrophe that has affected the country’s main river system, amidst a severe drought and intense heat.
Though the state government has already installed aerator devices to inject air into the river to try keep the fish alive. According to the minister, “This mortality is beyond the control of the government and if there was something else that could be done we would have done it.”
However, residents claim it is the poor management of water resources in this agricultural area along the Murray and Darling River basins that has led to the catastrophe.
Source- IANS
