SIBU, April 21 ― A large number of freshwater fish were found dead at the pool of Bukit Aup Jubilee Park here yesterday.

News about the floating dead fish spread fast, and within minutes, residents from the nearby areas crowded the place with pails, plastic bags and buckets to collect the dead fish.

Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting who was in a state of shock after being informed of the news, contacted the landscape architect to check on the matter.

According to the park maintenance contractor as told by Ting, the ongoing climate change has affected the functioning of ecosystems.

These effects of climate change with a rise in temperature, he said, can cause the death of some fish because they were unable to obtain the oxygen required at higher temperatures, and that some fishes were not adapted to rises in seawater temperature.

Meanwhile, a stall hawker operating nearby the park told The Borneo Post that he sensed something was amiss when the fish had become inactive lately.

"Some of the dead fish began to emerge on the surface of the pool on Wednesday and more dead fish emerged today (Thursday),” he said, adding that the bigger dead fish would have already sunk to the bottom of the pool. ― Borneo Post