Thousands of sea creatures are washing ashore dead on Chile’s Pacific beaches.
Earlier this month, around 8,000 dead sardines washed up on the mouth of the Queule River. On the coast of Chiloe Island, it was thousands of dead clams.
At the beginning of 2016, over 36,000 tonnes of salmon in Los Lagos washed up dead and 10,000 dead cuttlefish were found on the island of Santa Maria. In 2015, the bodies of more than 300 whales washed up on the remote beaches in the south of Chile.
READ MORE: 337 whales found dead on Chilean beach in one of history’s biggest beachings
But scientists aren’t sure what’s killing the animals.
Marine biologists in the region say a possible cause is the increase of algae due to El Nino. The “red tide” of algae kills other species by “consuming oxygen in the water or filling it with toxins,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“We have red tides every year in southern Chile, but this time it reached further north,” Jorge Navarro, a researcher at the marine institute IDEAL, told AFP.
“It affected bivalve populations (such as clams) that had never before been exposed like this.”
The algae may come every year, but the warmer water from this year’s record-breaking El Nino means it’s coming in quantities higher than before.
IN PHOTOS: El Niño devastates coral reefs in Pacific
Another reason for the deaths could be human-made fish farms.
Laura Farias, an oceanographer at Concepcion University, told AFP that there’s “no ecological, oceanographic or climatic explanation” linking the whales’ death in 2015 to the other mass deaths.
“There are studies indicating that in Patagonia the greater occurrence of toxic blooms could be a consequence of aquaculture,” she said.
Livelihood of Chilean fisherman threatened
Chilean fishermen staged a protest demanding better government compensation after the fish started washing up dead.
Chile is especially vulnerable to the effects of the ocean because of its large coastline, which spans over 4,000 kilometres.
It’s the second largest producer of salmon in the world, according to AFP. The amount of dead fish found in Los Lagos is equal to around 12 per cent of their annual production.
Chilean authorities have banned fishing in the region, and declared it an emergency zone.
The economic impact of the die-off on local fishing operations has yet to be determined but the emergency decree signed by President Michelle Bachelet is designed to subsidise the local population until the algae is gone.
But fishermen in the area say the US$150 offered by Bachelet isn’t enough to cover the basic needs after their livelihoods were put at risk.
The fishermen blocked roads and set up flaming barricades in several cities in Chile’s south this week to pressure her to provide more. They also blocked boat access from the mainland to the Chiloe archipelago.
About 6,500 fishermen are in line for payments.
*With files from the Associated Press