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

Residents of a charming waterfront town in New Jersey say they have been trapped inside their homes as a revolting stench wafts across the neighborhood.

The pungent smell is being caused by tens of thousands of dead fish crowding the lagoon surrounding Osborn Island in Little Egg Harbor. 

Locals say the waft is unescapable - which one resident likened to that of a public restroom. 

'We wait all summer to enjoy our home on the water, and you're literally locked 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 in Osborn Island, which is typically teeming with people enjoying the seaside air on their balconies, riding bikes or taking walks during the summer.

Residents of Osborn Island, New Jersey say they have been unable to leave their homes as a stench wafts across the neighborhood

The lagoon has been inundated with tens of thousands of dead fish

The dead fish are so closely packed together that from an aerial view, it is hard to make out what is crowding the water.

'It's disgusting, it is the worst smell in my entire life,' Debbie Wuss told CBS News. 

'I burnt every candle I could possibly find and now I'm in my infusers,' she said.

Making matters worse, residents say the odor has attracted swarms of seagulls, who have left their mark on the neighborhood.

'The birds are destroying the tops of houses,' Bob O'Brien said.

'They're going all over the cars, all over your boats.' 

The smell has attracted swarms of seagulls, who are making their mark on the town

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has blamed the massive fish kill on a combination of warm temperatures and poor water quality

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has blamed the massive fish kill on a combination of warm temperatures and poor water quality in the lagoon.

'Staff determined that poor water quality resulting from warmer temperatures and low dissolved oxygen in the lagoon resulted in the fish mortality in the lagoon,' a spokesman told CBS.

'Fish and Wildlife staff determined that this was an isolated event and most of the dead fish will naturally be removed from the lagoon by the tides or by tide flow.'

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

Joseph DiGrande - who has lived in the area since 2019 - said this is a recurring issue in the town

At times, he said, crews have come to vacuum up the dead fish.

But so far, the Department of Environmental Protection has not done anything this time to help residents get back to their seaside lifestyle as health officials warn them not to swim in any body of water with a large concentration of fish.

'We're not getting any help, and it's not the first time we asked,' DiGrande claimed.