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Why Doesn’t 35 Tons Of Dead Fish In China Raise A Stink?

By Alap Naik Desai

From the archive: published May 8, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.

About 35 tons of dead fish suddenly appeared in a lake in China. The horrifying site, similar to the events outlined in the bible, caused panic among the citizens. However, the dead fish aren’t due to the excessive pollution that has been wreaking havoc on the country’s water supply, claim local authorities.

Residents in a town in southern China were in for a shock after witnessing about 35 tons of dead fish floating in their lake. Wave after wave of rotting fish had been washing up, posing an even greater challenge to the clean-up crew hauling the carcasses to the nearest incinerator. The fish belonged to the herring and sardine family. The huge wave of dead fish had started accumulating over the course of two days, leaving citizens confused and suspicious about illegal dumping activities. However, local authorities have assuaged the fears of the people, claiming the sea of fish has nothing to do with pollution. Instead, it’s reportedly the result of a sudden change in the salinity levels.

According to the Chinese state media, the huge floating piles of fish washed up in a lake in Hainan province on Wednesday. After locals raised their concerns with the local authorities, the latter indicated the fish most likely died due to a radical change in salinity. The herring and the sardines are saltwater fish, and their presence in a lake was the reason forwarded for their death.

Explaining why the fish died, one of the authorities said, “The change in salinity levels likely occurred after a tide pushed the fish up farther into Hongcheng Lake in the city of Haikou.”

Although regional environment officials have begun an official investigation, it is unlikely their report will reflect any wrongdoing behind the sudden death of thousands of fish. Interestingly, while many publications reported the fish belonged to the herring and sardine family, the state-run People’s Daily claims it interviewed the locals who insist they have never seen that type of fish at the lake before. The locals merely added that the fish were the size of a half palm. Given the fact that the fishes belonged in the sea and not in a lake, the locals might not be wrong.

https://www.facebook.com/XinhuaNewsAgency/videos/1276180675742707/

The authorities later added that the change in the salinity might have occurred when a tide pushed the yellow and white fish further into the lake. Once trapped, the fish were sucked in by powerful pumping systems that dumped them into the lake. Before the incident was noticed by the concerned authorities, 35 tons of saltwater fish had ended up dead in the Hongcheng Lake.

More than 100 workers toiled for hours to get rid of the fish, reported the Sunday Express. The workers were filling up large bags with the dead fish and sending off truck after truck to a local incinerator. While it is not clear if the fish had been infected, they are being incinerated to prevent locals from selling the rotting fish in the market, reported USA Today.

Often, potentially dangerous fish are quickly loaded onto trucks and taken to large processing plants, where they are gutted and converted into saleable food. Such fish food can be hazardous to consume, but hoards of unaware customers are sold such dodgy products by offering deep discounts. China has many such huge seafood processing plants with questionable legality. Such a huge and easy catch is quite attractive to them.

Due to lack of large hauling equipment, workers were forced to use fishing nets or large scoops to take the fish out of the lake. However, the workers successfully cleared the dead fish from the lake before they posed any dangerous to the ecology.

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