A children’s fishing day has gone belly up after a run of salmon died just minutes after being released into a Blenheim river. The sudden death of 100 salmon in the Opawa River on Friday has scientists testing the waterway for possible contaminants. The Marlborough Kids Fish Out, organised by Fish and Game, was supposed to take place on Sunday. Field
officer Vaughan Lynn said he was shocked to find the salmon dead within 15 minutes of putting them in the river on Friday. “We put the fish in, but we noticed they looked a bit stressed, well, more stressed than they usually do when you’re releasing them,” Lynn said. “Then we glanced upstream, and we saw these dead fish bodies floating around, and there was an eel looking a bit sick, and I thought, ‘oh, we’ve got a problem’.” READ MORE
