SEDGEFIELD NEWS - Following the recent warning not to eat fish found dead in the Swartvlei, Sedgefield residents and visitors voiced their concerns whether fish now caught in the Swartvlei are fit for human consumption.
At the time, South African National Parks (SANParks) senior section ranger, Jonathan Britton gave an account of the mysterious fish mortalities, saying: "On Monday, June 22, SANParks rangers retrieved 35 dead Grunters from the Swartvlei.
On Tuesday, an alarming 85 dead fish were found (mostly Grunters). By Wednesday, the deaths had dropped significantly, with only four dead fish found and on Thursday, nine fish were found."
At the time the public were warned not to eat the dead fish as the cause of their death was not been confirmed.
Garden Route National Parks (GRNP) spokesperson, Nandi Mgwadlamba was asked if it was now safe to eat fish caught in the Swartvlei, and if these fish could possibly still be carrying whatever caused their death in the first place. She responded: "We indicated in a previous press release that we have not collected dead fish since Friday, June 26.
"We also informed the public that test results were taken to agriculture laboratories and the feedback provided from tests conducted at the time indicated temperature of the water to be normal, pH, oxygen percentage and oxygen mg/l readings taken were also all within the normal parameters. If there were serious problems with these parameters we could expect to see numerous species being impacted, not only predominantly Grunter."
She added: "The mortality was very localised and limited to mostly the area south of the picnic area at Placid Waters and north of the slipway off Kingfisher Drive. We then suggested people do not pick up and consume dead fish. We are still awaiting tissue culture results of tests performed on the dead fish."
Mgwadlamba was asked to offer further comment on the possibility that the breaching of the Swartvlei mouth might assist with cleansing the water of whatever may have caused the fish mortalities.
"We do not see the opening and closing of the mouth as having any relationship to the fish deaths at all. If this were the case, more fish would have died and of other species as well and not just the Grunter," she responded.
In closing she thanked the public for their queries and said: "The public should never be quiet, we welcome questions, queries in the form of letters, calls, interaction on social media and via SANParks forums (accessible from the national website www.sanparks.org)."
Read previous articles below:
- Concern about Swartvlei management
- Fewer fish deaths in Swartvlei
- Update: Fish dying in Swartvlei
- Fish dying in Swartvlei
ARTICLE AND PHOTO: FRAN KIRSTEN, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
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