Environment body says it's safe to eat fish

Environment body says it's safe to eat fish

Damar Harsanto and Theresia Sufa, Jakarta/Bogor

The Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) announced on
Tuesday that it was safe to eat fish, more than a week after it
warned the public not to consume seafood following the discovery
of dead fish in Jakarta Bay.

"It is safe now to eat fish. Based on our observations, the
neurotoxic substance that killed the fish has not been absorbed
by the fish, but only affected their gills and belly," agency
head Kosasih Wirahadikusumah told City Council Commission D on
development affairs.

He urged concerned agencies like the Jakarta Animal Husbandry
Agency, the Jakarta Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Agency and the
Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to spread this
message.

Kosasih also said public health centers and hospitals near the
northern coast, which are being monitored by the Jakarta Health
Agency, had reported no cases of poisoning caused by tainted
fish.

The agency had earlier called on the public not to eat fish
and clams from Jakarta Bay. This call had a negative effect on
fishermen, who said fish prices dropped by up to 50 percent as a
result.

In the hearing with the commission, Kosasih said that based on
the agency's preliminary investigations, a red tide caused by an
increased presence of toxic algae was the main cause of the dead
fish in Jakarta Bay.

However, most councillors voiced doubt about this conclusion,
suspecting highly toxic industrial waste dumped into the bay by
nearby plants was the cause.

"If the red tide was simply a natural phenomenon, why did it
not occur in other coastal areas nationwide? Dead fish should
have also been found elsewhere," said Koeswadi Soesilohardjo of
the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction.

He cast suspicion on the numerous industrial plants in the
capital as the cause of the pollution.

"High levels of toxic phenol found in the seawater might be
related to the practice of washing turbines. Phenol is a
substance that is usually used to clean up operating turbines in
plants," said councillor Tjuk Sudono of the National Mandate
Party (PAN) faction.

Tridoyo Kusumastanto, the head of the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture's Center of Maritime Resources Studies, blamed the
presence of toxic phytoplankton, coupled with industrial and
household waste dumped into the sea, as the cause of the dead
fish.

He said the center was still studying possible additional
factors that might have been responsible for the incident.