Benin: Thousands of fish die in a lake

Thousands of tilapia fish in Toho Lake in southwestern Benin were found dead on Monday, May 21st. The information was revealed by local media, as for the cause of this death, nothing has yet been revealed.

Unusual, this is how the local media define the scene. Over a long distance, thousands of dead tilapia fish can be seen on Lake Toho, in Atheme commune, Benin. Alerted, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock dispatched a team to the field.

According to the team; “Fishermen found it as a gift from God and picked them up and women smoked them. We dispatched a technical team to the field and they came to observe this morning and there is a nice skewer of fishermen, with their canoes, actually on the water,” said Minister Gaston Dossouhoui.

4 days later, no reason has yet been mentioned. The testimonies mention stocking. A red film was seen on the waters of the lake. A hypothesis rejected by the leaders of the fishing sector

Christian Guidibi, president of the Aquaculture Producers’ Union, in turn, makes assumptions.

“The first probable cause is that, having poultry facilities in the vicinity, people have used herbicides and pesticides and with the rain, runoff has reached the infrastructure.”

“The second because that is less likely, is vandalism. What is the amount of chemicals that can be put into an infrastructure like that and can kill that kind of fish? It’s less likely.”

“The third probable cause is the size of the infrastructure,” said Mr. Guidibi.

At the benintv.com website, a fish farmer whose pond had just been poisoned reportedly dumped the poisoned water in the lake next door. For now, the government is warning about the consumption of these fish that have been smoked by some women.