Thousands
of dead fish are now creating nightmarish conditions for some people in Long
Branch along the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers.
Residents
at a nearby condominium
complex say it’s so bad, they can't even go outside.
“This is
the time,” says Josh Costell, of Long Branch. “It's spring. We've all been
through this pandemic together. This is the time to get outside, and we are
again prisoners, but for a different reason.”
Bacteria
is to blame for the ongoing menhaden fishkill in and around the rivers.
DEP
officials first noted the problem in the late winter.
News 12 talked
last month
about what would happen when the weather warmed up and a lot of people feared
they would start to rot, and that's what's happening.
“I see a
sea of solid fish of garbage,” says Michael Roth, of Long Branch. “It's almost like
we might as well live by a landfill.”
Roth says
you can't open windows – you have to stay inside and simply can't enjoy
spring.
Representatives
from the condominium association say they have reached out to local and state
government for help. They fear this will turn into a health hazard if the flies
and fish continue to rot along the shore.