Hundreds of thousands of fish in Mullaitivu Mallavi Tank have died due to exposure to the extreme hot sun and many people have started collecting and selling this fish.
Health authorities have requested the police to immediately intervene in the matter and not allow the fish to be sold as the residents of Mallavi have started collecting dead fish and selling them in piles, at a very low price.
Police and Public Health Inspectors have taken measures to arrest people selling dead fish from the Mallavi tank. Health Authorities of Mullaitivu have gone to the Mallavi tank and initiated investigations and they presume as the first step that the fish have died in this manner due to the high heat being experienced.
The health officials have advised people to refrain from eating the fish in the Mallavi tank until the samples of the dead fish are taken and sent to the Biology Unit of the Jaffna University for testing and a proper conclusion has been arrived at.
Commenting on this, Mullaitivu Farmers Organizations representatives said that the fisheries expansion officers are releasing hundreds of thousands of young fish into tanks without considering the water levels therein, so when the fish die, hundreds of thousands die at once. Anyhow, due to the dead fish, a stench has started spreading in the entire area around the Mallavi tank.
Rasula Dilhara Gamage