Dead fish in Beira

Disna Mudalige and Rasika Somaratne

Thousands of dead fish were seen floating on the edges of the Beira-lake in the heart of Colombo city yesterday. It was also observed that monitor lizards were eating the dead fish that were floating.

Central Environment Authority (CEA) Director General Ramani Ellepola told the Daily News that a team was dispatched to the area to investigate the incident.

She said that samples collected of the dead fish and water would be sent for laboratory tests to find out the cause of the incident.

She also noted that the decline of oxygen level in water could be the cause for the death of a large number of fish suddenly. She observed that an increasing population of algae results in low oxygen levels in water and similar situations have been reported in the Beira lake on several previous occasions as well.

CEA Environment Pollution Control Division Head K H Muthukudarachchi said that a water quality measurement to find out whether there is any toxic contamination would be carried out and about five days would be required to release the test results. He also noted that similar situations have been reported in the Beira lake every year.

National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency Director General Nilmini Diyabedanage said the Agency has also dispatched a team to investigate the incident and a report would be issued by Tuesday. Residents near by the lake also expressed their fears about be a possible danger of the dead fish being sold in the market.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/10/24/news03.asp