Mar Menor awash with dead fish
Print Edition
Five tons of fish and crustaceans have washed ashore over the past 10 days at Spain鈥檚 Mar Menor, once a lagoon paradise that is slowly dying from agricultural pollution.
The sparkling saltwater has spat out millions of dead or dying sea creatures on to sandy beaches which have long drawn tourists to the southeast.
Images of dying fish forcing their heads above the surface, gasping for oxygen alongside baskets piled high with countless dead creatures have traumatized the Murcia region, raising urgent questions about the Mar Menor鈥檚 future.
On Monday, regional officials said they had removed 5 tons of remains but huge numbers of sea creatures are still dying.
鈥淭he worst-ever wildlife death toll in the Mar Menor is not yet over,鈥 the World Wildlife Fund tweeted on Wednesday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible situation,鈥 said Pedro Garcia, director of regional conservation organization ANSE, who feared the death toll could be twice that given by the authorities.
Beneath the calm of one of Europe鈥檚 largest saltwater lagoons 鈥 135 square kilometers separated from the Mediterranean by a 22km sandbar 鈥 a toxic storm has been brewing as a result of years of nutrient pollution from intensive agriculture.
Experts say the fish suffocated due to a lack of oxygen caused by hundreds of tons of nitrates from fertilizers leaking into the waters. For years, runoff water loaded with nitrates has entered the lagoon causing a vast bloom of algae which, as it dies and decomposes, decreases oxygen levels in the depths.
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