Washing ashore of dead fish in large quantity is agitating fishermen community with the charge that indiscriminate discharge of industrial effluents is causing their death.
Finding of 200 kg of miscellaneous fish on the shore of Tikkavanipalem near Parawada, about 60 km from here on Monday triggered protest by the fishermen. “We have collected the samples to find out whether chemical contamination is the cause of their death. The samples will be sent to CMFRI lab for analysis,” Joint Director of Fisheries Koteswara Rao told The Hindu.
Officials of AP Pollution Control Board have been denying the charge that toxin contents had been the reason for regular washing ashore of dead fish at various places. “Scientifically there is no evidence that chemical effluents are the root-cause of fish-kill,” AP Pollution Control Board Environment Engineer Ravi Kumar said. “When there is chemical contamination, generally large numbers of fish do die,” he stated.
Two months ago, around 120 endangered turtles were found dead at Mutyalammapalem beach. Two dead dolphins were spotted by fishermen at Pudimadaka two months ago. Several tonnes of dead fish were washed ashore at Appikonda six months ago.
There was uproar after several tonnes of dead fish were found at Kanithi Balancing Reservoir, which supplies water to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, in 2010. After a thorough examination, officials ruled out chemicals as the cause of the death.
Fishermen also allege that there is a drastic fall in the catch due to dwindling population of fish in the Bay of Bengal.
“Release of effluents from Brandix India Apparel City, Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City and seawater with high temperature after using it cooling by NTPC Simhadri are responsible for growing incidence of fish-kill,” alleged Arjili Dasu, executive secretary of District Fishermen Youth Welfare Association.
