Dear Editor,
Beginning a few weeks ago and up until now dead fish have been washed ashore at 63 beach. As the old adage goes, ‘News runs like wildfire in the woods.‘ Rumours have been going around to reach as far as Canada that toxic fish have been found dead along 63 beach being washed up from a contaminated sea and that people should stay away from the beach. What nonsense! Who supplied this bogus information?
I have been explaining to many persons who have been inquiring from me how the fish died, since I am a resort owner on 63 beach. I see it as important to tell the public the truth and encourage people not to be dissuaded from visiting 63 beach. During an interview with the 66 fishery trawler boat owners I was told that the fish were thrown overboard due to their poor quality, and that the beach was not polluted with any toxic substance nor the river water, so the public shouldn’t be scared.
There was even an annual beach party that was supposed to be held this Sunday gone but was cancelled due to the heavy rainfall; nevertheless people came by in droves and enjoyed themselves with music, picnics and cricket games. Boy, you can’t stop people from having fun on 63 beach!
Some of the fishermen are to blame with their carelessness in throwing off low quality fish from their nets instead of keeping them in a corner of their boat. They should have kept them and sold them to some people who are looking for curass, catfish, etc. The fishermen did not help themselves by allowing misleading information to spread even to the local fish markets and Corriverton municipal market, with people not wanting to purchase fish because of the rumour about it being contaminated. As a consequence the fish vendors too are making no money.
I see the ocean every day. The surging olive waves with their white spray rolling over and over is such a beauty indeed. I observed this while walking along the beach today by the shore’s edge. I even went into the water a few days ago, and it was so clean I could see my hands in the water. What a blessing it is for all of us to own and enjoy the 63 beach, a public recreational, international tourism hot spot.
If the government wants to do something about this dead fish situation which could deter tourists from visiting 63 beach, I suggest they introduce a regulation that fish caught in the nets should not be thrown back in the sea, because they end up dead and regurgitated by the rough tides onto 63 beach and maybe other places as well. Also, I think the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is supposed to come out to 63 beach to do some tests on these fish to find out why they died.
Some other rumours were that mercury from gold-mining escaped into the water, but did anyone notice that the dead fish are only unscaled fish? The beach cleaners are not supposed to clean up the dead stink fish, only litter. They are not being paid extra to do that awful job. Even though they still cleared the rotting fish off the beach they did not dispose of them in a proper manner. They were supposed to bury the dead fish instead of throwing them on the small sand dunes to decay thereby chasing away tourists with the obnoxious stench. The fishermen who are responsible for what has happened are supposed to clean up their mistake from the beach and vow not to do it again. Six years ago a similar incident occurred with dead fish being washed ashore. People who were amazed at that time could reflect on this. If the fish, as said, were poisonous, all the beach scavengers – dogs, black crows and vultures would have died.
People should learn to get the facts straight through observations, investigations and the right information.
Yours faithfully,
Ebony Narpatty
(Brijbassi)
