The hundreds of thousands of dead fish , which flooded Pagasitikos Bay near the city of Volos in recent days, died of natural causes and not from poisoning with industrial wastewater or any other toxin, Kathimerini reported, citing BTA, citing an official representative of the Ministry of the environment.
In front of the state television ERT, Petros Varelidis, Secretary General of the "Natural Environment and Waters" department, said that the problem is related to the storm "Daniel". in September last year. He said the storm flooded Lake Karla in Thessaly, central Greece, causing it to grow into a safe and rich ecosystem that stimulated the reproduction of freshwater fish. As the lake began to return to its natural size through absorption and evaporation, it shrank, suffocating its unusually large fish population.
„When the drainage channel fell below the water surface in the plain, the water suddenly picked up speed and all these fish, dead or alive, were swept into Pagasitikos Bay,” Varelidis said, adding that the live fish died when they got into the saline environment.
Varelidis also said that efforts to clean up the Xyria Stream, which connects Karla to the gulf, are beginning to bear fruit and that the situation is now under control, especially in the seaside town of Volos, where a state of emergency has been declared.