Residents of charming waterfront town are trapped inside their homes as revolting smell overwhelms neighborhood

Residents of a charming New Jersey waterfront town say they are trapped in their homes as a disgusting stench hangs over the neighborhood.

The pungent odor is caused by tens of thousands of dead fish swimming in the lagoon around Osborn Island in Little Egg Harbor.

According to locals, the smell is unavoidable, with one resident comparing it to the smell of a public toilet.

“We wait all summer to enjoy our waterfront home, and you’re literally cooped up in the house for two weeks,” Joseph DiGrande told Fox 29 Philadelphia.

“You can’t go outside. You can’t breathe. You really can’t stay outside for more than 10 minutes,” he added of life on Osborn Island, which is usually bustling with people enjoying the sea air on their balconies, biking or hiking in the summer.

The lagoon is flooded with tens of thousands of dead fish

The dead fish are so close together that it is difficult to see from the air what is in the water.

“It’s disgusting, it’s the worst smell of my entire life,” Debbie Wuss told CBS News.

“I burned all the candles I could find and now I’m sitting in my infusers,” she said.

What makes matters worse is that, according to residents, the smell attracts flocks of seagulls, which leave their marks nearby.

“The birds are destroying the roofs of the houses,” said Bob O’Brien.

“They are everywhere on the cars and on your boats.”

The smell has attracted flocks of seagulls, which leave their mark on the city

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has attributed the massive fish kill to a combination of high temperatures and poor water quality

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection blames the massive fish kills on a combination of high temperatures and poor water quality in the lagoon.

“Staff have determined that poor water quality, caused by higher temperatures and low oxygen levels in the lagoon, has led to the fish kills in the lagoon,” a spokesperson told CBS.

‘Fish and Wildlife officials determined that this was an isolated incident and that most of the dead fish will be naturally removed from the lagoon by the tides or currents.’

Residents say this is the second time in just one month that such a massive fish kill has occurred in the lagoon. DiGrande, who has lived in the area since 2019, said it has happened two to three times a year for the past three years.

Joseph DiGrande, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2019, said this is a recurring problem in the city

Sometimes, he said, crew members would come and vacuum up the dead fish.

But so far, the Department of Environmental Protection has done nothing to help residents return to living on the coast. Health officials are warning them not to swim in waters with high concentrations of fish.

“We’re not getting any help and this isn’t the first time we’ve asked for it,” DiGrande alleged.