Reports of dead fish in the lagoon near Le Rocher led environment officials to launch an inquiry on Wednesday October 22,  into the cause of the incident.

A number of floating, dead “mullets,” a white fish common to the lagoon areas between reclaimed land and the east coast of Mahe, were reported to the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday morning (October 21).

However, ministry officials worried on Wednesday,  that too much time had passed before the incident occurred to get any useful information out of the rotting fish.

Preliminary testing of the water in the area also did not provide officials with any conclusive evidence – oxygen levels in the water were found to be somewhat low, they said, but not low enough to warrant concern.  The water was otherwise normal, they said.

The ministry said it would, however, continue with further testing.

Officials said on Wednesday,  they were looking into several of the main industrial companies in the area, but were awaiting feedback about their activities during the past few days.

Whatever it was that caused the fish to die, however, appeared to be short-lived – marine life in the lagoon had appeared to return to normal on Wednesday, according to the ministry.

The ministry also indicated that it has received reports in the past of similar occurrences in the same area.

In the meantime, environment officials said, a clean-up operation by the Solid Waste and Cleaning Agency (SWAC) had been organised early on Wednesday morning.

Chief task force supervisor for SWAC, Barry Joseph, said that SWAC personnel began the operation during low tide and did not notice anything peculiar about the state of the fish or what little water was in the lagoon.

About 25 kilograms of dead fish had been collected, he said.

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