Council staff attended at The Basin and Moneys Creek lagoon this morning to help save fish that were distressed by a naturally occurring algal bloom.
Natural resource management supervisor Greg O’Neill said Council responded to calls from the public to assist fish in the lagoons.
“There’s been a recent algal event in the ocean, which has caused some some water quality issues in the lagoons,” he said.
“We had Council staff there with nets and equipment to catch the fish out of the lagoon, put them into tubs and and transport them out into the open ocean and into the fresh and clean water.”
Natural areas officer Sally Obst said it was all hands on deck to save as many fish as possible.
“Once we got the fish back to the ocean where the water’s oxygenated they raced with energy back through the waves and out into the ocean,” she said.
Mr O’Neill said the algae is a natural seasonal event, quite common after winter.
“What’s happening at The Basin is the fish are coming to the edge of the pool and what they’re trying to do is get away from that deoxygenated water and try and find some fresh water, where they can breathe normally,” he said.
“We’ve been talking to Surf Lifesaving Queensland and we do have warning signs in place just advising people for health reasons it’s best to stay out of the water.
“It’s not just off the beach here, it is actually along large sections of the coast at the moment.”
Mr O’Neill said the Department of Environment and Science was notified, also the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
“At this stage, there seems to be no other impacts to native wildlife,” he said.
“The seagulls and birds seem to be okay. We’ll continue to monitor that and will work with DES as required to keep monitoring the situation.”
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