SRINAGAR — Thousands of fish have been found dead in the world-famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, with experts saying that the mass death has taken place due to thermal stratification.
The residents in the peripheries of Dal Lake were stunned to see thousands of dead fish floating on the surface of the water body. “We found dead fish in large numbers at different places in the water body. A foul odour is emanating near a spring in the lake,” said Manzoor Ahmad, a local resident.
Officials from the Fisheries Department, according to the reports from the news agency KNO, said that various teams of the Fisheries Department, LCMA, have visited the spot and started investigating what led to the death of the fish.
“This has happened due to thermal stratification – a change in the temperature at different depths in the lake,” they said.
Feroz Ahmad Bhat, Dean, Faculty of Fisheries at SKUAST-K said the fish could have died due to low concentration of oxygen in the lake. “The pollution and increase of weeds decrease the concentration of oxygen in a lake,” he said, adding that it has also happened in Nigeen Lake in the past as well.
Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Vice Chairman of Lakes & Conservation Management Authority (LCMA) said that the samples of dead fish have already been taken so people don’t need to panic. “Not big fish as shown in pictures but fingerlings of two fish species were found dead in Dal Lake,” he said.
Bashir said they have analyzed the phenomenon and it has happened probably due to thermal stratification which led to the death of fingerlings and it is a normal affair.
