[Mike]

Hundreds of Dead Fish Found in Queens Park
By DEMARCO MORGAN
Updated 11:30 PM EDT, Mon, Aug 9, 2010

NBCNewYork Something stinks — and the source of the smell could lie beneath murky waters here in the Springfield Gardens section of Queens where residents have had enough of the odor.

“The smell is very bad,” said Olga Dicupe of Bushwick, Brooklyn.

“The smell [and] the color,” added Wanda Clark of Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

It’s a problem that has many of the folks in the neighborhood fishing around for answers after spotting a large number of dead fish inside the waters here at Springfield Park.

“My son came and said daddy, daddy, all of the fish are dying,” said Philmoore Parks of Springfield Gardens. “I came and all of the fish were floating up to the top.”

Some are citing the heat as a possible reason. But Parks believes there’s a lot more to it.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Parks. “Did somebody spill something there? Is there a leak under the lake? But we can’t get any answers from 311.”

So, we put in a phone call to the New York City Parks department and quickly learned that officials there are aware of the problem and “have sent some of the fish to the Department of Environmental Conservation for testing to find out why and how they died.”

As for the smell, the spokesperson told NBCNewYork they were not aware of an odor problem or any issues with debris.

“It makes me feel that people do not care about mother earth,” said Kim Alexander of Springfield Gardens.

Alexander says she has complained about the trash and smell for days. And after getting no response, she has decided to fish around for her own solution.

“I cleaned this whole strip over here… like i was down on a farm,” said Alexander.

She’s hoping the smell will go away soon.

Source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Hundreds-of-Dead-Fish-Found-in-Queens-Park-100296774.html