Thousands of dead #fish found in a lake in #NewSouthWales, #Australia

Another mass fish kill event has been spotted in far western NSW, nine months after millions of fish were found dead on the nearby banks of the Darling River.

New aerial footage appeared to show thousands of dead fish at Lake Pamamaroo in the Menindee Lakes System, near Broken Hill.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is yet to confirm the new kill and said in a statement it would be investigating, but the remote location would make verifying the mass kill extremely difficult.

The department said mass kills were more likely to happen throughout the summer as the ongoing drought placed increased stress on aquatic populations.

The sight of millions of dead fish floating belly-up and rotting in the sun, prompted desperate pleas by fishers and farmers and shocked Australians last summer.

But Professor Richard Kingsford, director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW, flew over the area on Monday and said he doubted the footage showed the current state of the lake.

“We flew across Lake Pamamaroo and we didn’t see any water along the lake,” he said.

“We didn’t fly across all of it, but it looked like it had been dry for quite a while.”

Professor Kingsford said he did not see dead fish in the area.

Darry Clifton from the Darling River Action Group said he was not surprised by another apparent fish kill.

“There’s thousands upon thousands from what I can see around the edge of that water area,” he told the ABC.

“The fish are trapped, they’ve got nowhere to go, there’s nowhere for the fish to follow the old creeks back to the actual outlet for the river.”

Courtesy of abc.net.au

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