Govt probes extent of mass fish death on Lake Malawi in Karonga
Malawi government through the Ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Energy and Mining says investigations to establish the extent of fish kills and their possible causes on Lake Malawi in Karonga district are underway and that the nation will be duly informed once such investigations are concluded.
The development comes after the fish kills was linked to the discharge of waste water by Kayerekera Mine in the district.
It is being speculated that Paladin Africa Limited has secretly started discharging radioactive waste water into surrounding water bodies which in turning is causing the fish kill.
Floating dead fish were observed in the areas of Nyungwe, Hanga, Phapha, Makhala and Kambwe which along the Lake Malawi.
According to the department of fisheries, the floating fish, observed in December 2014, were Chambo, Kampango, Utaka, Mlamba, Ncheni, Nkholokolo, Mbuna and Chisawasawa, among others.
“The dead fish that were sampled from the affected areas were however all rotten,” said Secretary for Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Erica Maganga.
“The public is hereby informed that investigations that were conducted recently show that Kayerekera Uranium Mine has never released any effluent into the environment from its storage facilities.
“It should also be noted that in the rivers surrounding the mine including North Rukuru River, there were no cases of fish kills observed,” she further explained.
Scientific knowledge points to the fact that the oxygen deficient waters have high concentrators of Hidrogen Sulphide and Carbon Dioxide and when fish are exposed to these conditions, they suffocate and die.
While the fish kills in Lake Malawi have been observed on a large-scale starting in 1999, the Karonga scenario is the first case of localised fish kills in recent times, according to Maganga.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining has urged people to desist from collecting, selling and utilising the floating dead fish in any form whether through direct human consumption or as livestock feed.
“This is mainly due to the fact that any dead fish is likely to be infested with pathogenic bacteria,” said Yanira Ntupanyama, Secretary for Natural Resources.
Prior to 1999, the fish kills were reported to have occurred some 40 to 50 year back, but since 1999, the fish kills have occurred lake-wide in the periods 2005-2006, 2010-2011 and in August 2014 and recently in December 2014 as well..
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This is not the first time to see dead fish in lake Malawi.ask the people that reside along with lake Malawi from kaporo to mangochi bridges.some of you should comment after research and proof.you are the kind of people who don’t have real facts about the whole thing and yet you are in the for front.kunena kwa ndithe ndithe nathambwe anazitengera.muzagwira mabi pagulu.if you don’t have idea of what you want to communicate,just read about the proposed discussion and knowledge will increase in you better.wake up Malawi we are shooting our selves in the foot.i think ulova wavuta that’s why… Read more »
I think we must debate the idea of re stocking the lake – 2 million people live from the lake fish or more. It is important the min of fisheries seriously looks into this and starts now otherwise it would affect our kids as there is no fish
zaka zonse sizinayambe zachitika,hw come suffocations ds time? There is something behind God will expose
Cover all angles and possible sources of this toxin. Consult and discuss with Tanzania as well. They may be facing the same problem!! They also fish In The lake.
Stupid zanu nonse olamuranu!
Agenda for change boy dzulo lija amati palibe nkhani apa.
Koma ukachita associate ndi Demonic Progr. Party eish
Malawi fisheries is run by mediocre personnel, with neither interest nor expertise to determine the cause of fish death. In fact it should be vey easy to determine the cause, but what will happen is several visits to Karonga to earn allowances and at the end you wont hear anything convincing from them. Two hypotheses may hold for the die-off: (a) eutrophication , especially due to poisonous red algae – a situation that would be more likely in the deeper parts of the lake; usually as a result of western trade winds (vuma), which prevails between October and November –… Read more »
I will not trust any report about this uyo Maganga akukana akuti si uranium koma ndi hydrogen sulphide ndi carbon dioxide ndeno aku miinstryko azatiuza chani chachilendo? Siapa mwatchula zifukwa zanu mbuzi inu kufuna kutisokoneza mitu basi. Anzeru khalani ndinu. Ziphuphu basi lankhulani zoona kumtundu wanu wa malawi mukulephera mukufuna tonse. Timwalire musale ndinu mayooo ambuye bwerani tipulumuseni mmanja mwa asatana tikutha.
Oil exploration in the lake is the cause of all this;please invite united nations experts and inspectors
Please amuboma chitaniponi kanthu apa,ngati nsomba zikufa chonchi kuli bwanji anthu okhala mumbali mwanyanjayo atati amwe madziwo?