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GEORGE TOWN: The floating dead fish case at Sungai Kulim on mainland Penang was likely caused by a sharp drop in oxygen levels in the river, and early investigations showed heavy rains were to blame, the Department of Environment said. Environment (DoE).
According to the director of the Penang Department of Energy, Sharifah Zakiah Syed Sahab, the sedimentation caused by the heavy rains had reduced the oxygen level in the river.
She was responding to Penang Executive Councilor Norlela Ariffin’s complaint to the federal agency following the discovery of dead fish in the river, which empties into her Penanti constituency. Villagers near the river called the incident “ikan mabuk” (drunk fish).
In a statement, Zakiah said that heavy rains in the upstream section of the river, located in Kedah, had likely caused sedimentation in the river.
He added that the fish had died near Lunas upstream of the river and then floated to the banks of the river in Penang.
“The sudden decrease in oxygen is likely to have affected the marine life in the river,” he said.
Zakiah also revealed that a joint Penang-Kedah DoE investigation over the weekend found no industrial discharge into the river as previously suspected.
She said three areas of Sungai Kulim were sampled for analysis to study the cause of the dead fish phenomenon there, including a drone scan of the river to detect possible causes of contamination.
Last month, a similar incident occurred in which hundreds of dead fish were found on the banks of Sungai Perai, and the cause was found to be untreated effluent discharged from a nearby factory.
The Department of Energy had said that a riverside food processing factory had released detergents directly into the river, resulting in the death of marine life in the area.
The factory was ordered closed for cleaning and was later fined RM18,000 under the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
