Dead fish wash up on Bali's beaches

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 11/21/2007 11:28 AM  |  National

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Thousands of dead fish were found strung along the southern beaches of Bali, including the tourist-packed Kuta Beach, causing a putrid smell and disturbing tourists.

""The fish probably started to be drift ashore last (Monday) night,"" senior Kuta's security guard, Gusti Ngurah Tresna, told The Jakarta Post Tuesday.

The authorities have not yet determined the cause of the dead fish, but it is assumed they were caught and thrown back to the sea by fishing boats.

While officials from the Maritime and Fishery Agency took samples Tuesday, security guards, beach lifeguards and street vendors were busy removing the dead fish.

""Piles of dead fish were found in the morning and we moved fast to remove them all so that the tourists would not be disgusted and disturbed by the smell,"" Tresna said.

He said he had to clean Kuta beach seven times, since a large number of fish kept drifting to shore before easing off at noon.

""I don't know what causes this phenomena but I suspect that the fishermen are the ones responsible for this, because most of the dead fish are of one kind: sardines,"" he said.

Ngurah said a fishing boat was seen in Kuta when the phenomena occurred and the number of dead fish decreased once it left Kuta waters.

I Ketut Sadan, who heads a group of fishermen in Tabanan regency, said dead fish were also found in beaches in Seminyak and Canggu about 10 to 15 kilometers from Kuta.

""They can be found not only in coastal areas but in the middle of the sea as well.""

He explained that fishermen had entered harvest season and it was likely that fishermen caught too many fish in their net and threw them in the sea because of overcapacity.

He said the phenomena was different from the event last February in which millions of fish died because of the so-called red tide phenomenon.

Red tide is a natural phenomenon caused by algae blooms of reddish-brown phytoplankton (microscopic algae) in the sea, often in coastal waters. Most red tides are harmless, but a few species of phytoplankton cause red tides that are poisonous to marine animals and humans.

The phenomenon usually occurs six months to a year after the El Nino phenomenon, which kills plankton and causes the emergence of a poisonous plankton. Human beings are advised not to eat fish that die because of red tide as it may cause diarrhea or even death.

The red tide phenomenon in Bali is said to occur every four to five years. Scientists recorded that the event happened in 1994, 1998 and 2003.

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