Photo: Supplied
A lack of oxygen in a Wairoa stream that caused the deaths of hundreds of eels (tuna) was a natural event, council test results show.
The eels, including breeding stock thought to be 40 to 50 years old, were found by Darren Hill, whose family has farmed the land in the Waiatai Valley for generations, on 16 January.
At the time, Hill said the stream's water was a deep brown colour with a film on top, and it smelled like diesel.
However, Hawke's Bay Regional Council chair Sophie Siers said water test results showed no evidence of petroleum or other toxic pollutants in the water and it
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