• The matter was investigated
• This week, a comprehensive report on the findings is expected to be released
After over two months since some dead fishes were washed ashore on some beaches in the country, a final comprehensive report is to be released by the government.
The report, put together following an inter-agency investigation that was launched after scores of various species of dead fishes washed ashore in Accra and Axim in the Western Region in April this year, is to expand the preliminary findings established at the onset of the situation, reports citinewsroom.co.
The Executive Director of the Fisheries Commission, Michael Arthur Dadzie, said this comprehensive report, which has been completed, will be made available in the coming days.
He explained that all the sectorial agencies collaborated in putting together the comprehensive report.
“The outcome of investigations will be announced by the sector minister during her press briefing this week. The collaborators (FDA, NADMO, EPA), all met to coordinate and harmonise our findings and that is what the Minister will release during the press briefing,” he is reported to have said.
It would be recalled that in its preliminary report, the Fisheries Commission indicated that that stress could have amounted to the cause of death of the aquatic mammals.
The Head of Fish Health Unit at the Fisheries Commission, Dr. Peter Zedah, is reported to have said that the Commission would conduct further tests to get to the bottom of this.
“Our initial investigations have proven that the fishes died as a result of some stress factors. For the [exact] stress factors, we are still investigating.
“Whether they were poisonous or not, we cannot tell because the other people are doing some pesticide testing,” he said.
In April this year, there were reports of how tons of fish had washed to shore at the Osu Castle beach in Accra, and a beach at Axim in the Western region of the country.
Mavis Hawa Koomson is Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development