Vaikaradhoo saw thousands of Bigeye Scad (Mushimas) that entered their lagoon dead and floating yesterday morning. As stated by the Vice President of their Council, this is a frequent phenomenon on hot seasons that residents are awaiting a solution for.
Thousands of Bigeye Scad, locally referred to as 'Mushimas' that entered the Haa Dhaalu atoll Vaikaradhoo lagoon has died and decomposed inside the lagoon once again.
Vice President of the Vaikaradhoo Council, Mohamed Nuham shared with Mihaaru that a large amount of fish generally enter the lagoon and that in normal situations, the fish enter at dawn and leave the waters by dusk.
He revealed that however, the sea tide rose at the moment the schools of bigeye scad set out leave the lagoon on Thursday night, confining them inside. He stated that many residents had moved in to catch the fish during that time and the ones that died were the ones that were left uncaught.
"When the tide rose, each person caught about a thousand fish. The fish that weren't caught died and rose up today [Friday]," said Nuham.
He revealed that thousands of fish were dead and floating in the lagoon when the sun rose Friday morning. Sharing that the youth of the island alongside the Council had collaborated in cleaning the dead fish floating in the lagoon that morning.
"In the morning, the council, together with the residents removed and buried more than two pickups full of fish; [we] took around 10 JPC [exacavator] loads. The entire lagoon is nearly rotten now, to the point where it is highly inconveniencing residents," he said.
He asserted that this phenomenon occurs every hot season as the Vaikaradhoo harbor was built to block all currents by the request of the people. As per their investigation thus far, he revealed that the cause of this is the depletion of oxygen in the lagoon as a result of increased microbes produced by the algae formed due to heat.
He further stated that requests were lodged to the government on multiple occasion in order to find a solution to the issue with President Dr Mohamed Muizzu directly consulted about the issue.
Revealing that the development of the inner and outer bay of the island was included in the budget within the efforts made to resolve this problem, he stated that the people are eagerly awaiting an expedited solution.
Sign In
