‘Absolutely scary!’
- Harbour View residents, fisherfolk wake up to thousands of dead fish - Buildup of oxygen-depleting algae caused suffocation, says NEPA
Published:Sunday | December 10, 2023 | 12:10 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
“This is absolutely scary!” declared Mary Jones when she beheld thousands of dead fish lining the Harbour Head shoreline in Harbour View, St Andrew, yesterday morning.
She was among several persons who made the usual Saturday morning trek to the area for recreational fishing and was shocked by what greeted them.
Fisherfolk in the area who rely on the bay for their livelihood were even more dismayed, questioning what could have caused it as they foretell of a dim Christmas season.
The dead fish, mostly sprat, started floating and washing ashore about 10 o’clock and as the morning progressed, the entire shoreline – “as far as the eyes could see” – was covered by the massive fish kill. The residents claim this was the second occurrence in the last month, but the other was not of this magnitude.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of the recently opened multibillion-dollar Kingston Dry Dock, and the residents blame the fish kill on a vessel that has been anchored near there for some time.
But the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) debunked those allegations, attributing the phenomenon to a buildup of oxygen-depleting algae. The fish, in essence, suffocated.
A TREND THIS TIME OF YEAR
It is not a new phenomenon, explained Anthony McKenzie, director of environmental management and conservation at NEPA, “but it’s a much wider issue than just a discharge of a ship”.
Acknowledging that it was not uncommon for vessels to cause harm to sea life, he stressed that yesterday’s occurrence was unrelated to that.
“You can look out and see the red/brown colour in the water with the algae and then there is the normal greenish colour,” he said, explaining that an increased proliferation of algae depletes the oxygen level in the water.
“Based on observations, it is a couple thousand fish that have died. We are noticing a trend for that section of the harbour this time of the year, but red tide is not unusual to the harbour,” McKenzie told The Sunday Gleaner, adding that some algae are toxic and thus may become more harmful to marine life.
WILL IMPACT CHRISTMAS
“Just like there is a problem with us catching the small fish, if millions of these fish are killed, it must affect everybody – the fishers and also the vendors and our customers,” fisherman Winston Monroe lamented.
“We are going to feel some of its impact in the Christmas and some of it afterwards.”
He added: “We are licensed to fish in the harbour and with this major fish kill, the fish that we were relying on are being killed prematurely.”
A meeting has been called for tomorrow with members of the fishing village, he said, to examine the impact of this major fish kill, and to chart a way forward during and after the Yuletide season.
“We want to have a meeting among ourselves before we take it to the environmental people them to see what is going on,” Monroe told The Sunday Gleaner.
Jones told The Sunday Gleaner that over the last couple of days, she has seen scores of dead fish washing ashore along the Palisadoes strip and other popular fishing spots nearby, where she does recreational fishing.
“But this is the worst I’ve seen it. It was absolutely scary. I won’t go fishing in this area for a while because I don’t know what is causing this and I don’t want to take home any fish that’s going to harm me or my family,” she said.
NEPA will be conducting tests in the area as it continues its investigation into the incident.