Fish Kill Task Force Established
Government says that during late August and September 2009, Bermuda experienced the worst fish kill in recent memory.The Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Conservation Services and the Department of Health and local NGOs such as BIOS were all involved in the effort to establish the cause of that event and have been working behind the scenes on two areas related to that event.
Firstly, local and overseas scientists have been working to determine the cause of the fish kill. Secondly, the local Government Departments have joined together to form a Fish Kill Task Force. Director of Environmental Protection Dr. Fred Ming said: “The fish kill that took place last summer was an extreme event. Fish kills happen quite often all over the world and in Bermuda but are usually small, local occurrences. We are only a handful of people trying to ascertain what is happening within our ecosystem and the public’s assistance will be invaluable in helping us gain a clearer picture of these types of events.”
Going forward, the above named Departments are asking for the public’s help. The public have been asked to assist in helping collect data on future fish kills around Bermuda.
If you see dead fish or other dead animals the task force would like to know:
- The date and time
- The location (approximate or GPS location would be preferable)
- What types of animal (Fish, sea-hares, birds)
- How many
- And the appearance – for example are there sores, wounds, scales missing and so on.
The number to call for reporting fish kills is: 705 FISH and you can also e-mail fisheries “at” gov.bm
Government also says that if a member of the public comes across sick or dying fish that are showing obvious signs of distress such as flapping about on the surface of the water they should not take and eat those fish. However, they do say that there have not been any health related issues during the past fish kill events associated with eating fish that do not show any obvious signs of sickness.
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