Molasses dumped illegally into a canal leading to La Hurtado Reservior in Acatlan, Jalisco have caused the deaths of at least 500 tons of fish.
Tens of thousands of fish, mostly carp and bream, were starved of oxygen and died of asphyxiation. State authorities are debating whether to declare the reservoir a natural disaster zone.
At least 8,000 tons of molasses were dumped into the canal by a livestock feed company, said Magdalena Ruiz Mejia, head of Semadet, Jalisco’s environmental watchdog agency.
The zone has been quarantined for as long as the clean up process takes and all the fish have been collected and buried.
State authorities are looking into the possibility of providing emergency payouts to members of the local fishing collective whose livelihood has been affected by the disaster.