Dozens of dead stingrays wash up on a beach in Rio de Janeiro

This past week, a concerning event took place at a beach in Rio de Janeiro where dozens of dead stingrays were found washed up on the shore. The news caused alarm among the local community and raised questions about the cause of their deaths.

The first reports of the incident came from local fishermen who noticed the dead stingrays early on Tuesday. One resident from the fishing community stated that she saw the incident just after dawn, which drew vultures to the area.

According to fisherman Renato dos Reis Oliveira, ‘This made us all sad. We’ve never seen the death of stingrays like this here.’ The discovery of the dead stingrays on the beach was an unusual and distressing occurrence for the community.

Biologist Ricardo Gomes from the Mar Urbano Institute studied the situation and determined that the absence of other dead species on the beach made it unlikely that the stingrays’ deaths were due to contaminants or oxygen deficiency in the sea. He believes that trawling, a type of fishing where one or more boats pull a net through the water, may be the culprit.

Environmental activist Isabeli Delois expressed her concern about the stingrays’ deaths and stated that the incident is not typical for the area. ‘This is not (the stingray’s natural) place, so this is strange even for the people who are here and who live off fishing,’ she told Reuters. ‘Something very bad happened,’ she added.

This event is not isolated, as a month ago, videos of hundreds of dead fish on a beach in Barefoot Beach Preserve, Florida, circulated on social media. Tom, who shot the video, captured the incident on Tuesday.