General

Fish kills vary in size from a few individuals to several hundred or thousand fish. Fish kills may be caused by natural events such as acute temperature change, storms, ice, decomposition of natural materials, salinity change, spawning mortalities or by human induced events attributed to municipal or industrial wastes, agricultural activities or pollution.

Protocol

Fish Kills in NSW are investigated by NSW Fisheries, Local Government and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC). In metropolitan Sydney, DEC is the response agency and in regional areas, NSW Fisheries is the lead response agency. There is also a standard method for investigating Fish Kills in APHA (1998). This is standard method number 10600 E – Investigation of Fish Kills.

The protocol is detailed at the following:

http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/hab/gen/reporting-fish-kills.htm

Costs

Costs involved for Local Government may include costs for erecting signs, removal of dead fish and disposal of dead fish and the associated labour costs.

Case studies

Nil

People Contacts

See Protocol for details.

Organisation Contacts

NSW Fisheries
www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au

NSW DEC
www.epa.nsw.gov.au