A heat wave in Kuwait, with temperatures in the shade soaring to more than 50 degrees Celsius, is to blame for the death of 600 tons of fish last week, environmental officials said Sunday.
The government reacted by slapping a ban on fishing in Kuwaiti waters and announcing the formation of a new committee to investigate the deaths, they said, cited by the Gulf Times.
Temperature highs in Gulf waters of 36C (97F) are the main cause of death of the fish August 10-14, Mona Faraj, director of the emirate's living resources department, said.
According to Faraj, Kuwaiti waters have reached record temperatures over the last two years.
Authorities estimated that around 600 tons of fish had died off Kuwait’s coast in the past week, municipality official Jaman Al Hajeri told the paper.
Tests will be carried out to determine the exact cause of death, and results will be known in the coming two days.
Kuwait’s public authority for agriculture and fish resources announced a ban on fishing in Kuwaiti waters as a precautionary measure.
The ban will remain in place until the cause of the deaths is ascertained, and long enough for fish to recuperate and reproduce so that future resources are not compromised, said the authority’s acting head, Sultan Al Khalaf.
During its weekly meeting yesterday, Kuwait’s cabinet announced the establishment of a committee to investigate the problem, the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, said, cited by the paper.
The committee, which will be headed by Health Minister Mohamed Al Jarallah, will tackle the problem of dead fish in Kuwaiti waters and thus safeguard the safety of its citizens, expatriates and environment, KUNA said.
Kuwaiti waste water and power station officials defended their ministries' environmental practices after allegations in the press that the dumping of hot water and raw sewage into coastal waters might have caused the massive fish kill.
"We haven’t dumped raw sewage into the sea for the past two to three months. And when we did, it was only in emergency cases," assistant undersecretary for Kuwait’s ministry of public works, Eid Al Khaldi, told a press conference.
"We are not saying there is no sewage going into the water - there is - but only in emergencies, and this is done all over the world," said Khaldi, fending off a barrage of questions from reporters.
He explained further that the continuous waste water effluents disposed of into the Gulf under non-emergency situations usually underwent secondary and tertiary treatment – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
