Polluted Ciliwung kills mounds of fish

Polluted Ciliwung kills mounds of fish

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of fish were found dead and floating in the Ciliwung river over the weekend, city environmental officials reported yesterday.

The head of the city's environmental study and monitoring office, Ali Rozy, said at City Hall that his office as well as the city's fishery agency are checking into the incident.

Aboejoewono, the head of the city's environment bureau, said the sapu-sapu fish, which live in the dirtiest waters, died suddenly and for no apparent reason.

There are not many industries in the area where the dead fish were found by a Central Jakarta sanitation team on Sunday, he said.

"Domestic waste may be part of the cause, leading to a lack of oxygen," Aboejoewono said.

The team headed by deputy mayor Mora Tua Simamora saw the dead fish floating from the Kwitang bridge to Jembatan Merah near the Istiqlal mosque.

An employee at one of the sluices said the dead fish were found on Wednesday. Dozens of marine officers helped to remove them from the river.

The last incident of fish dying en masse was recorded in 1994 in Ancol, North Jakarta. The cause was attributed to pollution and a subsequent "red tide", a phenomenon which cuts off the river's oxygen supply.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said that despite the efforts of the city's Clean River Campaign, the condition of the river is still bad.

"Although we don't know the cause, we can safely say that the social responsibility of industries (in disposing of and managing their waste) is still low," he said. (anr)