Worst drought in 700 years turns wetland into graveyard for fish

The summer drought has dried up the Zeezuiper, a wetland reserve in Noord-Brabant, for the first time in 700 years, leaving behind hundreds of dead fish.

Forest ranger Erik de Jonge was shocked when he returned from holiday to find the area, usually teeming with geese and wetland birds, had become a barren scrubland, with just a few scattered puddles remaining.

“We’ve seen a lot of droughts here in the last 10 years, but this beats everything,” De Jonge told Omroep Brabant. “This hasn’t happened since 1300.”

Stepping over a pile of dead and rotting fish, he explained: “We can see the fish retreated to the deepest water, but they died because even here the water has disappeared. There are deer running around. It’s unprecedented.”

The leaves have started to fall early because woodland trees such as birch, beech and maple are suffering from heat stress, De Jonge explained. “It looks like autumn, with all the fresh leaves, but it’s the old beeches reacting to the drought.”

Between 60% and 80% of the surrounding heathland is dried up, while the usually abundant berries are sparse and shrivelled.

Migrating birds

That will have an impact on migrating birds that pass through in autumn, De Jonge said. “These are vitamins for the birds that are coming in the next few weeks. Usually they can expect a buffet, but the buffet has dried up.”

Wetlands also play an important role in absorbing CO2 from the surrounding area. “A swamp captures more CO2 than a forest, so this will have negative consequences for the climate,” he said.

Water levels in the Zeezuiper have been falling steadily since the 1970s, but the trend has accelerated in recent years. De Jonge is urging authorities such as the water board to take steps to ensure the area retains as much water as possible when the rain finally returns.

“We’ve been calling for this for years, but we can’t ignore it any longer,” he said.