After Nearly 1 Month W/O Rain, Massive Fish Kills On NW Brazil's Manaquiri River As Oxygen Depletes

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The once free-flowing Manaquiri River, which runs through the state of Amazonas in northwest Brazil, is in the fight of its life against a spell of dry weather - and it appears to be losing the battle. Thousands of dead fish are rotting on the river banks and hundreds more float on its surface, turning the area into a toxic cesspool. Vultures circle overhead, picking away at the rotting carcasses. Even an alligator - one of the fiercest reptiles of the Amazon - floats belly up in the river.

Local fishermen say it has not rained in more than 25 days, leaving the large surrounding rivers in recession. This has in turn choked off the tributaries that provide fresh water to the Manaquiri. With no fresh water coming in, oxygen levels in the river have dropped, leaving the fish to suffocate to death. "One week the river water levels dropped, the next week all the fish died," Bruno dos Santos, a fisherman, told Al Jazeera. "In five days all the fish were dead. We have nothing left, only this ugly water."

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Some Amazon scientists warn that the drying up of the Manaquiri River may signal similar droughts occurring with higher frequency as the climate continues to change. "This is something that fits with the climate changes that are happening now and that are expected to increase in the future," says Philip Fearnside, a research professor in the Department of Ecology at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) in Manaus. "We have an El Nino beginning this year and that means that water is warming up in the Pacific Ocean. Whenever that happens we have droughts here in the Amazon."

Fearnside, who has lived in the Amazon for the past 33 years and is considered one of Brazil's top ecologists, says climate change theories are not built on speculation. "This is something we have experience with and know from the data, it's not something that depends on the outcome of a computer simulation," he adds. He says that while droughts can occur without climate change, such events are more likely to develop in a warming climate.

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http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/climatesos/2009/12/2009121075234359382.html