Thousands of dead fish found off Hong Kong's Lantau island leaves scientists mystified
Changing temperature of sea or illegal waste dumping could be to blame, says scientist
Thousands of dead fish have been found floating in rubbish between Peng Chau and Discovery Bay.
One scientist said they could have been killed by an algal bloom that starves fish of oxygen, or waste dumped in the water.
Pictures seen by the South China Morning Post showed some had washed up on a beach in Peng Chau, off the northeast coast of Lantau Island.
Islands District Councillor Josephine Tsang Sau-ho said: "The fish are around half the size of a palm. There were thousands of them when they washed up and they really smell."
She said fishermen had told her trawling was not to blame.
The fish were found on Thursday and workers later cleaned up the beach. The Marine Department said around 80 catties of dead fish were cleaned up from water in the area yesterday.