VISAKHAPATNAM: A large quantity of fish, weighing 600 kg to 700 kg, washed up on a beach at Tikkavanipalem in Visakhapatnam’s Parawada mandal on Monday, leaving the locals baffled. Fishermen alleged that untreated discharges from pharma units in the area getting released into the sea, could have impacted the marine ecosystem.
Fisheries joint director Lakshmana Rao said the dead fish are of the sardinella genus, which is locally called kavallu. He added fisheries and pollution control board officials have sent water and fish samples for lab testing to ascertain whether the fish died due to the presence of toxicants or oxygen depletion.
“If the problem is pipeline damage, the PCB will initiate steps to replace them. While water samples will be analysed by the APPCB, samples of the dead fish will be sent to Andhra University for testing,” he told TNIE.
Stating that fishermen release the extra catch into the sea, the official added that it is the bounden duty of industries to ensure that the effluents are released into the sea after proper treatment. The pollution control board officials said there was no marine discharge from industries for the last three days.
However, sources said there may be instances of discharges released without the knowledge of the PCB. “Due to pollution mainly caused by the industries, there has been a drop in the catch as well,” they said.
It may be noted that the district collector had constituted a committee with GM industries, factories inspectors and PCB and fisheries officials as its members, to visit the Divis unit in Parawada and other areas where industrial effluents are being released into sea.
The committee submitted a report to the collector based on findings of water samples testing submitted by the PCB. The collector had then directed to the PCB officials to ensure that only treated effluents are released into sea.
The fisheries JD said the water quality testing report will take two days to come back, whereas the testing of presence of heavy metals and toxicants in the fish will take one week to 10 days time.
“If the reports indicate presence of toxicants, then the PCB officials will take remedial measure and take action against the violators,” he added.