Local residents found thousands of dead fish floating on the Dal Lake in Kashmir on Friday.
“The phenomenon started a few days ago. It has reached an unprecedented level now. One cannot row boats in several parts of the lake due to the unbearable smell,” Rashid Dar, a local, said.
Experts have played down the phenomena as “a normal affair” and blamed it on the erratic weather.
Bashir Ahmed Bhat, vice-chairman, of Jammu and Kashmir Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA), said fish belonging to the Gambusia species were showing mortality and it was an “annual affair”. The fish is three to four inches in size.
“Our scientific wings have examined the cause of fish mortality. They died due to erratic weather causing thermal stratification – a change in the temperature at different depths of the lake,” Mr. Bhat said.
Kashmir is in the throes of erratic weather, with repeated rain followed by sunny and hotter days, which caused the day temperature to drop to below normal on many occasions.
However, locals say there has been an increase in discharge of effluents from nearby localities into the lake, resulting in weed cover. This has resulted in depletion of oxygen levels in the lake, many experts say.
