Malaysia: Fishes died due to lack of oxygen

KELLY KOH New Straits Times 29 Apr 15;

The death of 8000 fishes discovered in Sungai Kampung Enam in Bachang here last Monday was believed to have been caused by oxygen depletion in the river.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron said oxygen depletion occurred due to slow water exchange rate between the river water and the seawater.

“The gates at the barrage door control center is only half open during low tides.

A long term solution to increase oxygen level in the river would be to flush out river water completely into the sea during low tide, so that new seawater can be flushed in during high tide to ensure higher oxygen content,” he said.

Idris said another cause of low oxygen content in the river was the high amount of sludge in the river.

"Thorough maintenance must be carried out to reduce the amount of sludge in the river, and this requires a massive clean-up at the river-bed," he said during a press conference at Seri Negeri here, yesterday. For this reason, Idris said the Malacca River Cruises would be stopped for a day or two.

"As long as we provide notice to customers, explaining to them that the river is undergoing scheduled maintenance, it should not be a problem," he said.

Fishes that died were mostly tilapia hitam, jelanak and keli.