The air stinks of death. That’s what people are saying about a massive fish kill in the Banana River and Indian River Lagoon. Brown tide is the suspected reason fish are dying. Florida Fish and Wildlife is doing water testing to confirm.
Eric Rollings is a local real estate agent. He says the die-off is bad for business.
"Can you imagine if you’re a real estate agent and you were to try to find a place for let’s say someone from up north coming down or maybe somebody on spring break and you own a hotel or you have a house that you want to sell, are you going to want to be there right now? The smell is horrific,” said Rollings.
People are worried manatees will start dying next. Fish and Wildlife is currently getting reports of dead red drum, black drum, pufferfish, snook, stingrays, spotted sea trout, and horseshoe crabs.
The vice mayor of Cocoa Beach is urging residents to contact state and federal representatives to ask for support in cleaning up the lagoon.
FWC said the last large fish kill was in 2010.