The effort to clean up what some call an "unprecedented" fish kill in the Brevard County portion of the Indian River Lagoon kicked into high gear Thursday.

Countless fish and other marine life are dead because of what's thought to be a massive algae bloom.

On Thursday, 80 volunteers across the county started to pick up fish in the waters and on the shoreline of the struggling Indian River Lagoon and putting them in buckets at the Pineda Causeway boat ramp.  Keep Brevard Beautiful says the volunteers collected 22,000 pounds of fish.

The volunteers are from the Brevard Zoo's Oyster Restoration Program, and normally, the group visits the lagoon to install oyster mats in the habitat with the goal of using the shellfish as a natural filter to improve water quality.

For the volunteers, it was unfortunately different and sad.

“When you get an event that's really visible like this, you can see the magnitude of the problems that the lagoon is really facing,” said Allison Artega, Brevard Zoo Lagoon Restoration Outreach Coordinator.

Volunteers combed the shoreline, ending up with wheelbarrows full of dead fish.

As of Thursday afternoon, they had filled 85 30-gallon bags totalling 6,000 pounds, which they placed in a dumpster provided by Brevard County.

Soon after, a garbage truck came to take the remains to a landfill.

The fish kill is also a financial hit for the Space Coast.

Robert Weaver is the director of the Indian River Lagoon Research Institute and says efforts to repair the decades-long damage to the lagoon are slowly coming.

He says businesses who rely on it are being affected.

 “That lagoon of ours is a $3.7 billion a year economic engine, and we all really care about that,” Weaver said.

Despite the current push, more volunteers are needed to take on the huge cleanup.

“ It's heartbreaking work, but we are glad to see people so passionate about the lagoon,” Artega said.

The lagoon volunteer cleanup is being coordinated through Keep Brevard Beautiful.

People interested in helping can contact Keep Brevard Beautiful at (321) 631-0501. They are providing gloves, bags and grabbers to volunteers interested in helping with the cleanup.

To report a fish kill, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 800-636-0511.

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