Australia likely to soon begin cleaning up millions of dead fish from New South Wales' river

ANKARA (AA) – Authorities in Australia's New South Wales state are expected to begin removing millions of dead fish from the Darling-Baaka River soon, local media said on Tuesday.

Millions of fish were found dead in the lower Darling-Baaka River near Menindee in the far west of New South Wales last week.

Contractors are expected to arrive at the river early Wednesday morning to begin removing rotten fishes, ABC News reported.

Authorities said the mass killing of fish was caused by low oxygen levels in the water and high temperatures in the area.

Michelle Kelly, director of the Menindee Local Aboriginal Land Council, said government officials visited the area and met with the local community to discuss the latest situation.

"We have got people living on the river with babies (who) can't flush their toilets, can't have a shower or can't use the water and that's a real health issue out here," Kelly was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

In 2019, nearly one million fish died in the same river during high temperature in the state.

Cate Faehrmann, a local member of parliament who arrived in the area, described the situation as "catastrophic fish kills" and expressed dissatisfaction with authorities' slow response.

"I’m here in Menindee to see what’s being done about these catastrophic fish kills. Where’s the National Party Water Minister Kevin Anderson? What a disgrace he hasn’t deemed this crisis important enough to pay the locals a visit. Nor has any other politician," Faehrmann tweeted.

"Representative from NSW Fisheries saying there is no doubt that regulation of our river system has made the fish kill worse including things like gates at Menindee where fish can’t travel upstream," she added.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid