50K fish dead, cause still unknown

A mere four days ago, over 50,000 fish turned up dead in China.

Forgive, please, the title of the web site in that link.  It's a bit "out there" sounding but the news story is legitimate.  The location of the die-off, near the city of Shenzhen, is primarily an industrial expanse and yet someone intended to use a local pond as a fish farm.  From the link:

“We have invested a total of 350 thousand yuan (about 56 thousand USD) in the form of 60 thousand fish; now it’s all over,” said Ms. Liu, the fish pond owner. “These fish have been raised for one year, and could have been sold at market three months later.”

While the cause of this mass die-off is still technically unknown, it doesn't seem like one need be overly intuitive or that we must engage in much pother to come up with a sound theory.  The pond sits in proximity to an industrial plant.  Residents of Shenzhen reported heavy rains the day before the deaths.  It would stand to reason that the rain washed toxins and pollutants down into the pond and viola...tons of dead fish.

However, I am working on confirming other reports of dead fish across China, including 31 Yangtze porpoises.  Well, those aren't technically fish but you get where I'm headed.  I am given to hear that several rivers have thousands of dead floating upon them, dying off in a period from late April until now.  

Before anyone gets any ideas, I will say that I see absolutely no paranormal or conspiratorial angles to these occurrences.  What we are seeing are repercussions of our own pollution and environmental spoilage.  China has one of the worst pollution problems in the world.  It's not hard to imagine that the nation's lack of environmental awareness is to blame for these deaths.  I am not, however, unduly picking on China.  These mass die-offs serve as mere microcosms of what is yet to come for the rest of us.  We're headed for a massive environmental disaster and it will likely be connected to the sea or other bodies of water.  One can also see that the detrimental effects are not limited to "tree-hugger," "liberal" causes such as...oh, I don't know...wanting clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, respect for non-human life, et. al. There is also an economic cost to businesses as Ms. Liu pointed out in the linked story.

We know one thing.  It's going to smell like rotting fish in China for a while.

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