Johor fishermen cry foul over dead fishes

Moh Farhaan Shah, The Star 1 Jan 10;

GELANG PATAH: Some 200 fishermen in Tanjung Kupang village are upset as countless fishes have died in the nearby Tanjung Adang waters.

One of the fishermen who only wished to be known as Ali, 43, said he discovered the dead fishes as he was going out to sea on Monday.

“I was surprised to see not only dead fish floating but crabs as well.

“I usually catch about RM200 worth of fish each day and this incident will reduce my catch,” he said here on Tuesday.

Fellow fisherman, Yaakob Ibrahim, 53, said the dead fishes were also causing a bad stench in the area.

“The smell is terrible and the colour of the water has turned yellowish and murky.

“Fishes can be seen floating along a 5km stretch of the sea,” he said.

Kampung Tanjung Kupang headman Mohd Faidzullah Yusof said that so far, there were no reports of any such incidents from nearby villages such as Kampung Pendas Laut.

“Hopefully the authorities will act fast on this as a lot of the villagers catch fish for a living,” he said.

“This is the first time such a thing has happened.

“We hope that the authorities will conduct a thorough investigation as we do not want this incident to happen again,” said Faidzullah, adding that nearby seafood restaurants would also be affected.

Nusajaya assemblyman Datuk Aziz Sapian visited the area.

“We do not know how many fish have died but from the look of things, it could jeopardise the livelihood of these fishermen.

“Hopefully the Fishery, Marine and Environment departments will carry out tests and find out the cause of this,” he said.

State Environment Department director Dr Zulkifli Abdul Rahim could not be contacted for comments.