Durban environmentalists are cautioning residents not to consume dead fish found along Isipingo Beach Lagoon. south of Durban, at the weekend.
The eThekwini municipality announced that access to the Isipingo estuary is closed.
Environmental activist Desmond D’Sa believes the estuary has been polluted when sewerage works pump malfunctioned. D’Sa says while the Municipality has given a warning to residents, the area has not been cordoned off as some fishermen were seen to be still plying their trade.
He says there was a bad stench in the air after hundreds of fish dead fish were found all over.
“When I got to the Isipingo beach, a lot of people were fishing and swimming. But thankfully the dead fish were all contained in the lagoon. This is the second incident that occurred that I have seen in the past few years. What is really of concern for us is that people are hungry and there’s a lot of unemployment in our community. People could go there, go get the fish, cook it and die,” adds D’Sa.
Clean-up underway
According to the City’s Twitter post, the City has begun clean-up operations at the Isipingo Beach lagoon following the discovery of dead fish. Specialist clean-up crews are on site collecting and disposing of the fish in a responsible manner.
The City also adds that an investigation to ascertain the root cause of the pollution is underway and that they will continue to monitor water quality in rivers and beaches through sampling and field surveys.
