Mangalore: Dead Fishes Found on Sea Shore – Fishermen Suspect Water Pollution
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RS/SB)
Mangalore, Feb 18: Fishermen community in Kotepura area near Ullal here were in for a shock when they witnessed dead fishes on the water and sea shore as well as various others attempting to jump out of the sea in the morning of Thursday February 18. The phenomenon is spread about four to five kilometers along the shore.
Majority among the fish varieties that were found dead was Catfish. This is among the best fish sold in the market and in demand for its taste. The fishermen now suspect that sea water is polluted due to some poisonous substance that not only is harming the fishes, but also may become major threat to family dependent on fishing.
Venkatesh, a young fisherman said that finding dead fish on the sea shore though common, the death of fishes in such a large number is very rare and witnessed in the region for the first time at least in the past three decades, he adds.
Narayan, who is into fishing from past 30 years said that it is no miracle called ‘fish rain’ as termed largely by the locals, but suspects that the death has been caused due to poisonous contents in the sea water. The sea water is polluted as several factories along the shore are releasing the effluents into sea without proper treatment, he observed.
Fishermen community in general is now fearful that their future might be at stake if the Catfish variety of fish is harmed, which is the main source if income. The community further demanded the departments concerned to intervene to investigate and solve the problem as well as implement stringent action against industries responsible for sea pollution.
Neither the officials from the fisheries department nor the Pollution Control Board have visited the spot so far despite information passed on to them by the fishermen.