Here’s why thousands of dead fish are stinking up this New Jersey shore town
LITTLE EGG HARBOR TWP., NJ - New Jersey officials have responded after FOX 29 reached out to get down to the bottom of a fishy smell permeating throughout Little Egg Harbor Township.
A rotten smell has been filling the air in Little Egg Harbor as thousands of dead fish are filling one lagoon and attracting tons of seagulls.
Now that tens of thousands of dead fish have filled the lagoon on Osborn Island, neighbors say the smell is too strong to bare.
"It's definitely unhealthy. You can't go outside. You can't breathe. You really can't stay outside more than 10 minutes," said Joseph DiGrande, Little Egg Harbor Township resident.
And the fish aren’t the only issue.
"The birds also are a problem because now everything is covered in bird poop and feathers and its just another gross add on," said Pelcak.
Thousands of dead fish lead to rotten smell in this New Jersey shore town
From being locked in the house to bird poop everywhere, residents in a New Jersey shore town are fed up after thousands of dead fish in the lagoon have caused seagulls to flock to the area and an incredibly awful rotten smell.
Why are there so many dead fish?
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Fish & Wildlife department, the high fish mortality in the lagoon is due to poor water quality.
"Staff determined that poor water quality resulting from warmer temperatures and low dissolved oxygen in the lagoon resulted in the fish mortality in the lagoon," read a statement from NJDEP.
What happens to all the dead fish causing the horrific smell in the air?
"Fish & Wildlife staff determined that this was an isolated event, and most of the dead fish will naturally be removed from the lagoon by the tides, or by tide flow," the statement concluded.