Millions of fish die of mysterious 'virus'

Millions of fish die of mysterious 'virus'

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

The Simalungun regency administration in North Sumatra banned on Friday the consumption of fish from Lake Toba after millions of fish died in the lake over the past week.

While there has been no official explanation for the deaths, the administration has speculated that a virus could be to blame.

"The ban will remain in effect until a further announcement is made by the government. The ban is necessary to prevent people from becoming sick," said Simalungun Regent Jhon Hugo Silalahi.

Residents first spotted the dead fish a week ago on the surface of Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination in North Sumatra. By Friday experts estimated that millions of fish in the lake had died.

Many of the fish that have died were being farmed in the lake in baskets called karamba.

According to data from the Simalungun administration, there are 2,316 of these karamba in Lake Toba. Each basket can house between 4,000 and 5,000 small fish, so there are millions of these fish being farmed in the lake.

Jhon Hugo said 76 tons of dead fish had already been removed from the lake.

The government has instructed residents to separate infected fish from healthy fish to prevent the spread of the virus.

Infected fish have black gills, their skin peels off and their stomachs become bloated.

"The government is investigating where the virus came from and how to tackle this problem. For the time being, people must not eat fish from the lake," Jhon said.

North Sumatra Governor Rizal Nurdin said his administration was looking into ways to help fishermen affected by this crisis.