Thousands upon thousands of prawn have washed up dead on the shores of Coronel, Chile, as scientists try to piece together what would cause such a widespread deaths of marine life.
Coronel, about 330 miles from the capital, Santiago, has also been witness to having hundreds of dead crabs wash up on shore, in addition to the prawn. Many are quick to point fingers at the local power plants as the cause of the disaster.
Local power plants Bocamina 1 & 2 and Santa Maria use seawater as coolant for the power plants, and when that heated seawater gets pumped back into the ocean, it can change the temperature of the seawater and be deadly to local sea life. Other factors being looked into include the El Nino phenomenon, which warms the waters of the Pacific Ocean naturally. Victor Casanova, a local environment official, spoke to BBC News to discuss the investigation.
"We're investigating the Coronel Bay to establish the physical parameters of temperature, electric conductivity and, above all, the oxygen..."
Local fishermen were taken back by this event, and openly wonder what will happen to their livelihoods if crustaceans continue to die in such large quantities by their home. Marisol Ortega, speaking on behalf of the fisherman of the city, had this to say:
"The way everything is being destroyed here, come the high season in November, we're already thinking we won't have anything to take from the sea..."
"I'm 69 years old and started fishing when I was nine, but as a fisherman, I never saw a disaster of this magnitude...'' Gregorio Ortega recalls to local Radio station Bio Bio.
Hopefully scientists can figure out the cause of this disaster soon and determine if it was natural or man-made in origin.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
