An “unusual number” of fish were found dead in a town on Florida’s Estero Island this month, and officials believe fertilizer runoff is likely to blame.
Fort Myers Beach resident Stephen Clark told The Independent he first noticed a “bad smell” on March 12, while boating out of Buccaneer Lagoon, a small waterway in the town. The next day, he saw dead fish in a connected canal.
That same day, town officials confirmed they had found “an unusual number of dead fish” in Buccaneer Lagoon and launched an investigation. Photos and videos from the scene showed large groups of dead fish floating on the water’s surface…