Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer
SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:
HUNDREDS OF dead fish bobbed to the surface of the Rio Cobre in the Bog Walk gorge area, St. Catherine, yesterday prompting the Ministry of Health to order a meeting to discuss the reasons behind the 'mystery fish kill'.
According to chief public health inspector for St. Catherine, Roy Crooks, several groups, including the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Win-dalco, and the St. Catherine Health Department, will meet to discuss the problems affecting the fish in the river.
Mr. Crooks told The Gleaner that while no official findings had been completed, personnel from the St. Catherine Health Department had gone to the area and acquired samples to ascertain the cause of the incident.
Grace Turner, manager of the public education and corporate communications department at NEPA, confirmed that investigators were still seeking clues behind the fish kill.
"We are aware of the incident, but no concrete information is available about what caused the fish kill, but the investigative team from our laboratory is on site gathering samples to do testing, and it usually takes about five working days for the lab to come up with results," she said.
This is the second time in less than a year that there has been a fish kill in the area. In August 2004, a massive fish kill was also observed in the Bog Walk gorge, an incident that was, at that time, blamed on a leak from the nearby Windalco bauxite plant. That matter is still being investigated.
