Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

Globally, the frequency of fishkill episodes is increasing, owing to natural and human-induced modification aquatic ecosystems. A massive took place on 22 October 2017 along an approximately 1.5 km stretch Jhelum River in Srinagar City, India. Thousands fish died during this specific event, not lasting more than three hours, creating chaos panic among local population government circles. In context, affected were assessed for morphological parameters, which include skin color, eye appearance, texture. To back our findings, critical water-quality including pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen essential survival fishes river stretch. This study assumes importance given that observation stations monitoring health are lacking highly urbanized City. The examination samples revealed discoloration, bulging eyes, rough texture, indicating chemical contamination waters quality analysis neutral pH (7.2), normal temperature (15.6 °C), mildly depleted (6 mg L−1) levels. While indicated contamination, physicochemical parameters exhibited a typical scenario water. For avoiding any such further incident precisely ascertain cause future, it suggested few continuous sites should be set up, supplemented with robust ecological modeling simulations.