BY DAKOTA TAIT
There has been a second fish kill at Mannering Park, less than a month after a first incident in early August.
Thousands of fish were found dead on the shoreline at Wyee Bay on August 6, with the EPA concluding the water column had likely been overturned when cooler weather conditions collided with the warmer temperatures of the cooling water emitted by Vales Point Power Station.
The Hunter Community Environment Centre (HCEC) was notified by a community member yesterday, finding hundreds more fish dead on the shore at Wyee Bay.
In a statement, Delta Electricity rejected the HCEC's claims, arguing far fewer fish were killed than the organisation suggested.
"Rather than leave fish to rot on the shoreline, Delta (as a good local citizen) deployed some staff to assist with the clean-up," the statement said. "There were about 100 fish, mostly mullet, and claims of ‘a total of three ute loads of fish were removed from the lake’ are incorrect."
"Delta has undertaken its own investigations and has fully co-operated with the EPA as part of its investigations, which included EPA site attendance and water sampling yesterday."
The company's described claims by the HCEC that thermal pollution contributed to the August fish kill as "selective and misleading".
While the EPA report described it as a "natural event", it did cite the elevated temperatures at Mannering Park as a contributing factor in the turnover of the water column and the occurrence of tropical fish, attracted and acclimatized to the warmer water temperatures, who were overwhelmed by the upset in temperatures, as well as by the sediment disruption.
The HCEC argues the fish kills are an indicator that more research needs to be done into the impact of temperature disruptions and thermal pollution on Lake Macquarie.
 |
| Image credit: Hunter Community Environment Centre. |
