|
|
 |
| Sunday, 19 May 2002 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
'Viral infection affects Batticaloa lagoon fish' by Chamikara Weerasinghe People in the Batticaloa district and near vicinity are advised not to eat fish which are caught from Batticaloa lagoon as fish in it are affected by a viral disease. However, the advice does not come from state authorities concerning country's fisheries sector or health sector, but from head of the Zoological Department of Eastern University in Batticaloa, Mrs. Chand Devadasan. Thousands of dead fish are presently seen floating on the water of the lagoon, while thousands of them are lying on the shores of lagoon's Northern banks. "The infection is spreading from North of the lagoon to the South," said Mrs. Chand Devadasan, "the virus and its causes are yet to be determined." Fish Pathologist Mrs. Devadasan, on being asked by the Sunday Observer, what made her so convinced that the fish were affected by none other than a viral infection , the fish pathologist said: "I can categorically state that this is an acute viral outbreak as is apparent from the symptoms. I examined hundreds of fish and they were found with overgrown bellies, haemorrhage in chordal fins and protruded anus, which are clear signs of a viral infection." Meanwhile, the fishermen in the lagoon maintained that discharge of effluent into the lagoon by shrimp farms as being responsible for causing death to lagoon fish. More than 25 shrimp farms surround the lagoon covering more than four acres of land. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
