In the past three or four days, nearby residents have counted more than 200 fish, carp and Murray cod, floating dead on the surface of the lagoon, also known as Chinaman’s Lagoon, on the western side of the town’s golf course.

Greg Downing’s 20ha property backs onto the lagoon and the registered nurse was stunned when visiting the lagoon this week.

“I got the shock of my life,” he said.

“I’ve counted 200 dead fish.

“It’s such a shame; there are hundreds of people who grew up here and have brought their kids here; fished here.

“And the animal life, the bird life, that comes in here, I hope they don’t drink that water.”

The smell from the rotting fish has been detected up to one kilometre away from the lagoon.

Another nearby resident, Ian Rogers, said he referred the matter to animal rights groups and government departments 12 months ago, to no avail.

“If we could have got a little bit of water put in it, everything would have survived,” he said.

“It’s been created by the continuous (artificial) rise and fall of the river which has silted all the mouth of the lagoon up.

“For me it’s terrible because it’s all about the damn dollar they get out of water.

“A wee bit of water would have filled that lagoon and kept everything alive, a pittance compared to what’s flowing past every second.”

Mr Rogers said he had found dead platypus on the site four months ago as well as turtles, some a hundred years old.

He said the water was now about 8cm deep, compared to up to 6m during most summers.

Inland recreational fisheries manager Cameron Westaway said the incident was probably a natural occurrence and not a chemical spill.

“It sounds like a natural event and mainly dead carp,” he said.

“Native fish tend to be clever and get out early if they can. Carp are more stupid and tend to like the shallow wetland areas.”

Mr Westaway warned people not to feed animals (or humans) with the dead fish and not to get in the water until further notice.

Corowa Mayor Gary Poidevin said yesterday he would look into the matter.