Anne Zhang

    zhangy49@gmail.com

    A LARGE number of dead fish were found floating on the water near Houhai Bridge in Shenzhen Bay on Thursday, causing environmental and safety concerns among local residents.

    Workers of nearby parks said the dead fish were from Shenzhen Bay Inland Lake Park, which is still under construction. Opinions vary on what caused the death of such a large quantity of fish.

    On one side of Houhai Bridge is Shenzhen Bay and on the other is Shenzhen Bay Inland Lake Park, which used to be an F1 motorboat racing field.

    Some residents suspect that park construction has polluted the sea and caused fish to die. A security guard of the inland lake park said someone may have discharged wastewater secretly from a sewage outlet at the northwest corner of the park, since there is an obvious stench there.

    The head of the park’s security guard force, a man surnamed Zou, said that sultry weather, rather than water pollution, killed the fish.

    “It’s stuffy and hot recently and the water in the inland park is flowing poorly, reducing the amount of oxygen in the water,” he said. “Many small fish died of oxygen deficiency.”

    Zou said the sewage outlet at the northwest corner used to be the water inlet of the motorboat racing field and it has been used to discharge lake water that flowed into the construction site.

    Some people said the water gate between the inland lake and Shenzhen Bay might have been shut down for construction, which prevented water flow. Zou explained that the gate is only closed temporarily when a drilling operation in the lake requires it.

    Dead fish, however, have raised widespread concerns among local residents. They extended a few hundred square meters in the sea near Houhai Bridge, which was “startling to see,” according to a resident surnamed Li.

    He added that he also saw some people take boats to retrieve dead fish Thursday and was worried whether they would be sold on the market, eventually becoming dishes on people’s dining tables.

    Zou said his team retrieved hundreds of kilograms of dead fish Thursday and promised they won’t be sold on the market.

    It remains unclear why the authorities did not conduct an environmental assessment beforehand or following the incident. A Sina Weibo user named “Jianzhenchengzhang” said: “Controlling water pollution to protect Shenzhen Bay is a matter that admits no delay.”

    Large quantities of dead fish have been spotted along the coastline of Shenzhen Bay several times since last year.