Fish suffocated to death

THE sudden inflow of water after a prolonged dry spell caused fish to suffocate from mud and silt at Lake Oanob, the fisheries ministry said yesterday.

Thousands of dead fish were found along Lake Oanob’s shoreline over the weekend.

Fisheries ministry spokesperson Dewet Siluka told The Namibian that this normally happens during rainy seasons following a dry spell and that the common carp, compared to other species, was more susceptible to suffocation. Siluka added that although the common carp made up most of the dead fish, other species were also part of the mass deaths.

“The fish at Oanob are currently decomposed, and that is why our team could not collect any samples,” he said.

He added that the same incident happened three years ago at the Hardap, Oanob, Von Bach and Swakoppoort dams, also after another exceptionally dry season.

He said because Lake Oanob resort was privately-run, the ministry was not responsible for the clean-up. The resort’s management had to arrange for the removal of the dead fish.

“Normally, the fish just gets washed off by the water and naturally decomposes.”

He noted that although they did not have strategies in place to clean up after natural catastrophes, such as the fish suffocating, they would have come up with urgent clean-up measures if the fish were suspected of having died from toxic substances.

“This is a natural occurrence caused by, amongst others, climate change,” Siluka said. The ministry advised people not to eat the fish, as it was decomposed and therefore not fit for human consumption.

Raymond Vries, who works on a construction site close to the dam, said they have not experienced a foul smell yet, and that he knows that the fish should not be eaten.

“We cannot eat fish that just died like that, and I think everybody knows that,” Vries said.

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