Fish wash ashore in Jhelum, trigger poisoning rumours
SRINAGAR: Thousands of fish washed ashore onto the banks of Jhelum river in Kashmir on Sunday, alarming people and triggering rumours of poisoning.
Sensing escalation of trouble, the district administration immediately issued a statement urging people “not to panic”. “We have taken water samples as well as the samples of fish. Most of the fish washed up ashore are not dead, suggesting that the oxygen content of the river water is low,” deputy commissioner, Srinagar, Syed Abid Rashid Shah said. The fish — mostly Kashmir’s indigenous specie Schizothorax or Kashir gaed — floated on a 2.5 km stretch of Jhelum in Srinagar, prompting people to crowd the banks to watch the unusual phenomenon.
Many locals were seen catching the fish by hand and taking them home.
“The fish were alive but very docile. Some took them home to cook. Many seemed very fearful,” said a local of Chattabal.
The phenomenon, however, triggered more rumours, with some mosques announcing that the fish washed ashore due to poisoning. Kashmir’s fisheries department prima facie rejected any case of poisoning.
“The fish were alive and only a single species washed ashore. If there was poisoning, every type of fish would have been affected,” said MM Wani, fisheries deputy director, central Kashmir.
He said that after they took samples, they found only Schizothorax was affected. The official said that there were three reasons that seemed to be responsible for the phenomenon. “First, the level of water in Jhelum is low as there have been no rains for the past three months.
Second, the concentration of pollutants in this stretch has been very high. Third, to top it all, an artificial barrier near Veer area in old city had slowed down the water flow which reduced oxygen level in water,” Wani said.