Thousands of dead fish lead to rotten smell in this New Jersey shore town

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TWP., NJ - Something fishy is up in a New Jersey town and the smell in the air proves it!

A rotten smell is filling the air in Little Egg Harbor and some people say the cause has been popping up in the water.

Dead fish are filling one lagoon and attracting tons of seagulls.

As soon as you get to the Jersey neighborhood, you can smell a strong fishy odor.

The thousands of dead fish in the lagoon also caused seagulls to also flock to the area and now neighbors say this has made living here almost unbearable.

"Horrific," said Rayna Pelcak, Little Egg Harbor resident. "The only thing I can compare it to which is a little gross is a public bathroom."

"Well if you were ever at the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan, it’s probably about 10 times worse," said Joseph DiGrande.

On a summer day, the small neighborhood in Little Egg Harbor is usually filled with people on their balconies, riding their boats, and taking walks. But 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 DiGrande. 

The fish are so closely packed together that from an aerial view, you almost can’t even make out what's crowding the water.  

DiGrande has lived there since 2019 and says this has been happening two to three times a year for three years now. Other times crews have come to vacuum up the dead fish

"Here we go again. We wait all summer to enjoy our home on the water and you’re literally locked in the house for two weeks," said DiGrande.

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. 

When FOX 29 reached out to New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection, they weren’t able to immediately share what causes this or what can be done, but neighbors say this is what they’ve been told in the past.

"Our lagoon is a direct run from the bay. There's thousands and thousands of peanut bunkers they shoot in and from what were understanding the lagoon narrows funnels at the end and when they turn around to get out. They lose oxygen and then they die"

Other times neighbors say crews have come to vacuum up the dead fish but now going on day 3 of the smell and the second time this month, they’re hoping for a more permanent solution.

"It’s just horrible. We pay a lot of taxes to be on this little island. Its probably one of the more secluded places on little egg harbor and we’re not getting any help. And it’s not the first time we’ve asked."