Mozambique: Experts studying causes for mass death of fish in Gaza

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Mozambique: Experts studying causes for mass death of fish in Gaza

5:15 CAT | 15 Mar 2021

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

A multi-sector task force consisting of experts in agriculture, fisheries, water and the environment is working round the clock to identify the root causes of the mass death of fish in Lake Sulwe [Lagoa Sulué], in Mandlakazi district, in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza.

Fishermen first sounded the alarm last Wednesday after they spotted huge numbers of fish floating lifeless on the surface of the lake. The lake waters were murky and with apparent evidence of an oil spill.

In response, the district government hastily mobilised experts from various sectors to discover the causes of the mass fish death, including those held in captivity under aquaculture systems.

The director of the District Economic Activities Service, Ercilia Khau, has cautioned fishermen and other citizens to avoid eating fish from the lake, while investigations to establish the causes of the strange phenomenon continue.

“We would like to ask the communities to avoid consuming lake fish and the fishermen should also halt fishing activities until results are available,” she warned.

Henriques Balidy, of the Gaza branch of the National Agency for Environmental Quality Control, pointed to the lack of oxygen in the lake waters as a prospective cause. The lake water may have become anoxic, as result of an increasing disposal of waste or chemicals perhaps swept into the lake by recent rains.

“It is clear that the lagoon waters have a brownish black colour with a smell of decaying organic matter,” said Balidy, pointing out that decomposition coupled with the excessive presence of nutrients may have prompted the swift growth of micro-algae which consume large quantities of oxygen. This would leave the lake’s fish without enough dissolved oxygen to breathe.

Samples have been gathered for further analyses by the laboratories at the Eduardo Mondlane University, the country’s oldest higher education institution.