Foreign experts to investigate cause of unusual amount of fish deaths in Maldives
| DATE: 2007-12-04 | PRINT | Share
Minister of Fisheries Hussain Hilmy told Haveeru in an interview yesterday that a Denmark expert was being flown in to Maldives to find the reason behind the death of the reef fish. Large amounts of reef fish had been found dead, floating in lagoons and getting washed ashore on beaches all over the country for a while now.
“He will send samples of the dead fish to Denmark for analysis,” Hilmy said. “We have already sent such samples to Denmark and India too.”
He also said that many experts in the field have noticed that the phenomenon was happening all over the world.
“We will know the reason behind the deaths in Maldives once the analysis is complete,” he said. “Local experts have three theories about it. That’s because the phenomenon has been observed under three conditions in three islands of the Maldives.”
The Marine Research Centre had earlier said that they had sent teams to the affected areas to find the oxygen content of the surface waters of the areas. The Centre said that foreign experts had said that it was possible for unusual amounts of fish to die in an area if the oxygen content of the seawater at the surface was low. Although a huge variety of reef fish have been reported as dying the prevalent species, almost 98 percent, that are dying are the red-toothed triggerfish, a dark blue bodied fish, ranging up to 50 cm in length. It inhabits open waters and current-swept seaward reefs between 0 to 35 metres (0-115 feet) and can often be seen in groups turning and circling just under the sea surface while feeding on plankton brought in by the current. Sponges are another part of their menu.
| DATE: 2007-12-04 | PRINT | Share
Minister of Fisheries Hussain Hilmy told Haveeru in an interview yesterday that a Denmark expert was being flown in to Maldives to find the reason behind the death of the reef fish. Large amounts of reef fish had been found dead, floating in lagoons and getting washed ashore on beaches all over the country for a while now.
“He will send samples of the dead fish to Denmark for analysis,” Hilmy said. “We have already sent such samples to Denmark and India too.”
He also said that many experts in the field have noticed that the phenomenon was happening all over the world.
“We will know the reason behind the deaths in Maldives once the analysis is complete,” he said. “Local experts have three theories about it. That’s because the phenomenon has been observed under three conditions in three islands of the Maldives.”
The Marine Research Centre had earlier said that they had sent teams to the affected areas to find the oxygen content of the surface waters of the areas. The Centre said that foreign experts had said that it was possible for unusual amounts of fish to die in an area if the oxygen content of the seawater at the surface was low. Although a huge variety of reef fish have been reported as dying the prevalent species, almost 98 percent, that are dying are the red-toothed triggerfish, a dark blue bodied fish, ranging up to 50 cm in length. It inhabits open waters and current-swept seaward reefs between 0 to 35 metres (0-115 feet) and can often be seen in groups turning and circling just under the sea surface while feeding on plankton brought in by the current. Sponges are another part of their menu.
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