Cause of Gold Coast mass fish kill unknown with marine heatwave most likely culprit, scientists say | Gold Coast

The Queensland authorities are investigating the deaths of thousands of fish that failed on a popular Gold Coast beach.

The State Environment Department declared that dead apparatus-applles had been observed on spit, at the northern end of the Gold Coast since last Wednesday, but no obvious source of pollution had been found.

A spokesperson said that water quality monitoring “indicated a high temperature in water and a low oxygen dissolved in the region”, which can lead to the death of fish.

The residents concerned have published videos showing dead fish along the banks of the popular place during the weekend and expressed their frustration that the warning panels did not seem to be in place for swimmers.

The president of Save Our Southern Gold Coast, Kath Down, said: “There were thousands of fish that were obviously there for a long time”.

“It felt terrible. They were everywhere in the water and on the high tide line, “she said.

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Down was worried that families with young children were swimming in the region, especially when the cause of the incident was still being created.

“We do not know what they died – whether they were prosecuted by a predator or that there was not enough oxygen – but the children should not be in the water with them,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Gold Coast municipal council said that water quality tests had shown: “Water is sure for swimming, but we ask people to avoid the area while cleaning is underway”.

“The City is working with the Ministry of the Environment, Tourism, Sciences and Innovation to investigate this issue,” they said.

Dr. Leonoardo Guida, a marine biologist at Australian Marine Conservation Society, said that although the authorities still determine the cause of the deaths of fish, “the first reports suggest that they are linked to the temperature and, therefore, there is a low oxygen in the water”.

Guida said that, in general, the body temperature of fish was “dictated by water”.

As the water temperature increased, fish activity levels increased and they required more oxygen.

“If you have water that becomes so hot that it does not have enough oxygen to support this, the fish are literally stifled to death,” he said.

In recent years, the Australian oceans have experienced record temperatures.

Guida said that the higher ocean temperatures affected marine life across the country, highlighting mass marine deaths in southern Australia algae and coral laundering off the coast of Australia-Western, including in Ningalo Reef, as recent examples.

He said such events affected biodiversity, communities and economies and highlighted the need for rapid transition to the zero net. He said policies to help strengthen resilience in marine species, including species that were commercially important, would be essential.

The spokesperson for the Queensland Environment Department said that the council staff had collected water samples and that the results would be examined as soon as they were available.

They encouraged public members to report any death of fish to the ministry’s pollution hotline at 1300 130,372.