Mass Death of Prawns Due to Unexplained Reason in Coronel, Chile

Thousands of prawns were found dead on the beach in Coronel city, around 530 km from Santiago, Chile, in the third week of March 2013.

The local fishermen hinted towards the fact that deaths of prawns might have been caused because of the power generation plants- Bocamina 1 and 2 as well as Colbun, which make use of seawater as their cooling agent. Experts, on the other hand, are investigating in terms of oxygen levels, water temperatures as well as certain other details. The environment officers explained that physical parameters such as electric conductivity, temperature and oxygen were being studied.

Cause of mass death of prawns

Pollution as well as El Nino phenomenon is seen as the possible cause of mass death of prawns. El Nino phenomenon refers to warm ocean current which is found along Pacific coast of South America.
It is believed that mass death of prawns would have a negative effect on the livelihood of fishermen.