Thousands of dead fish are covering the shore of Meringo Lagoon just south of Moruya. The lagoon is at very low levels following record-breaking summer temperatures and extremely low inflows from the dry summer.
The fish kill was witnessed on Wednesday by Greens MP David Shoebridge, and Greens Candidates Will Douglas and Abigail Boyd. The fish kill follows an earlier fish kill in Wallaga Lake and comes as the coastal environment is facing multiple fresh threats.
"The local Liberal member Andrew Constance is pushing to reduce offshore marine park protections and the Liberal Government and Eurobodalla Council are planning to slash environmental protections on the forested lands that provide essential buffers to our coastal lagoons," Greens Candidate for South Coast Will Douglas said.
“I’m distressed to see thousands of dead fish covering the banks of the lagoon. It’s the latest evidence that our coastal environment is under serious threat.
“I can’t believe that the Liberal government is ignoring the evidence that is right before their eyes. Our coastal environment needs more care and more protections, not further environmental attacks.
“We can’t let this become the new normal - we need to protect the buffers around our coastal lagoons and make a serious commitment to address climate change.
“I call on the NSW Government and the local council to stop their attacks on environmental protections in Eurobodalla and instead commit to working with the community to save the local environment,” Mr Douglas said.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said “The record summer temperatures and low rainfall are the most obvious explanations for this fish kill. However, we can’t rule out the impacts of local land use as potentially contributing as well.
“Seeing these thousands of dead fish really brings home the environmental damage we are doing to the planet and the scale of the challenge before us to deal with climate change.
“We only have a short time to act. If we don’t move to 100% renewable energy and rapidly reduce our carbon footprint, this will keep happening.
“Rather than attacking the Marine Park and pushing for more land clearing, we need a government and a local member who stands up for our environment.
“This latest fish kill shows we can’t wait another four years to act - the time to start saving the planet is today,” Mr Shoebridge said.
