Mysterious disease poisons fish in Batticaloa lagoon
Colombo (AsiaNews) - The fish in the Batticaloa lagoon, in the eastern province of Sri Lanka, are being decimated by an unknown disease, probably caused by floods that have lashed the region for weeks. Sidambarapullai Piyadasa, president of the community of fishermen, speaking by phone to AsiaNews laments: "Fishermen on the lagoon have had to cope with this problem for over three months now, but despite our cries for help, the authorities of Batticaloa Fisheries Corporation have remained totally silent”.
Fish suffering from this disease "are red or orange in colour, some bearing strange wounds," said Sidambarapullai. As explained by the leader of the community, because of the disease almost 85% of the daily catch is lost. This causes severe damage to the 11,750 fishermen (about 3,500 families) of Batticaloa, whose livelihood depends almost entirely on fishing.
"The problem," continues another fisherman, Sinnathambi Sivakollothu, "is that even the small amount of healthy fish that we catch are not selling, because people are still afraid of getting sick specimens."
For weeks now the inhabitants of the northern, north-eastern, north-western, central-western and central provinces have had to face bad weather, torrential rains and floods. The number of deaths has risen to 12 and the damage now stands at about 600 million dollars. The government, some NGOs and Caritas diocesan centres are providing relief to more than 130 thousand flood victims.
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