African Press Agency 24 Jan 09;
APA - Port Louis (Mauritius) The Mauritius government is setting up an inquiry to understand why many tons of fish are dying constantly in the sea in the north of the island, the minister of Agro-Industry, Satish Faugoo has announced here Saturday.
The minister who was accompanied by officers of the Fisheries Protection Services carried out a site visit in the lagoon of Poudre d’Or, 20 km north of the capital Port Louis on Saturday and told fishermen of the region that according to officers of the Albion Research Centre, this is a natural phenomenon due to the rise of the temperature of the ocean water.
Faugoo added that during the last few days the temperature has been 3 to 4 degrees above normal.
Nevertheless, fishermen who live and work in the region do not agree. They told the minister that they have not been able to fish for the last 20 days as the water has turned black due to pollution and that a queer smell was emanating from the sea. To prove their assertions, Jean-Claude Lafrance, a fisherman brought a handful of sand from the bottom of the sea which had turned completely black.
They further told the minister that though they agreed that the rise in temperature may be partly responsible for the death of the fish, they believe that the clothing factory in the region was responsible for the pollution. They have asked the government to financially support them.
Meanwhile, Dr Ruby Moothien-Pillay, a researcher at the Mauritius Oceanography Institute has indicated that corals on the west coast at Albion, 15 km from Port Louis have bleached and that the situation was serious. She added that if the temperature of the sea continues to rise, corals in the shallow lagoons of the island will be further affected.
Also the Australian National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coral Reef Watch had on the 7th January already warned of "warming with positive hotspots" which is causing the bleaching of corals.
