Pollution kills fish in Siak river

Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Pekanbaru

Villagers should not consume fish from the Tapung Hilir section of the Siak River in Riau where fish were dying in droves, a senior government official has warned.

Head of the Riau Environmental Protection Agency, Khairul Zainal, said a large number of fish had been dying along the river in Tapung Hilir.

He suspected that the river, which flows through four regencies and municipalities in Riau, was polluted by heavy metals and wood pulp from local industries.

"It is not safe to eat the dead fish or to catch and sell the live fish in the river," Khairul said.

Many people were suspected to have eaten the fish before the warning was issued but there have been no reports of residents becoming sick.

Thousands of people rely on the river for bathing, washing their clothes and fishing.

Khairul said environmental officers had twice gone to the location where the dead fish were found to take water samples.

"We have yet to receive the final test results from the laboratory," he said.

However, from the appearance of the water, it was clear there had been an abrupt drop in water quality, he said.

"The river is certainly polluted."

Khairul said dozens of factories situated along the river, including pulp and paper mills and the discharge from wrecked ships were likely sources of pollution.

The local authority had observed sawmills and lathe and machining workshops dumping sawdust and heavy metal waste into the river, he said.

The agency would consider taking action against these companies after it test results were complete, he said.

However, the dying fish were not news to local fishermen in the area.

Ana, 38, a who lives on the banks of the Siak in Tapung Hilir, said it had already been a month since he was forced to stop fishing.

To make ends meet, he has had to switch to searching for wood in the forests along the river bank, which he sells.

Another fisherman, Syafrial, said about 2.5 tons of dead fish had been caught in nets recently by local fishermen in the district some 45 kilometers west of Pekanbaru.

"That's certainly led to less fish in the river," he said.