Kematian ikan tilapia merah Sungai Semantan menimbulkan tanda tanya...

Penternak ikan sangkar di Sungai Semantan menyatakan tilapia merah mereka telah mati, dan tuduhan kini dilemparkan kepada syarikat yang mengali pasir sungai. Mereka menyatakan bahawa pencemaran sungai inilah yang telah menyebabkan kematian ikan mereka.

Adalah diharap pihak berkenaan akan segera menyiasat:-
a) Mengapa Ikan Tilapia Merah, yang diternak dalam sangkar, di Sungai Semantan mati?
b) Adakah ianya kerana pencemaran sungai akibat pengalian pasir sungai yang menyebabkan kematian ikan tersebut?

dan seterusnya memaklumkan kepada penduduk Temerloh hasil penyiasatannya, dan apakah langkah yang mereka akan ambil untuk memastikan 'ikan tilapia' tidak akan mati lagi.

Kadang-kadang ahli politik dan kerajaan hanya mementingkan keuntungan - dan tidak perkara lain, saperti alam sekitar. Kini air dari Pahang akan dijual kepada Selangor, apakah kesan kepada kawasan dan sungai di Pahang? Adakah ianya akan merendahkan paras air khususnya pada musim kemarau?

Ikan dan haiwan yang hidup di dalam sungai biasanya menjadi mangsa pertama apabila sungai atau sistem perairan tercemar. Kematian ikan tilapia ini adalah sesuatu yang serius, yang harus mendapat perhatian semua penduduk Temerloh...Pahang dan Malaysia.

One of the fish cage operators counting his losses at looking at the dead tilapia along the Sungai Semantan in Temerloh yesterday which they believe was caused by the sand-dredging project nearby.

TEMERLOH: The livelihood of 19 families here have been affected after their red tilapia fish, reared in cages along Sungai Semantan, started dying recently.

The farmers claimed to have suffered losses, amounting to over RM1 million, and pointed fingers at the sand-dredging project along the river as the cause.

They are also unhappy with the slow response from the authorities.

One of them, Nor Afandi Abdul Aziz, 36, from Kampung Tanjung Batu, Seberang Temerloh, was expecting to earn over RM100,000 from his harvest.

But now, at least two-thirds of the fish in his cages have died.

"It will be hard to get back on my feet again and I am the sole breadwinner," he said at his fish farm here yesterday.

Another operator, Rosdi Harun, 42, said every year the fish cage operators along the river suffer losses but it was not as alarming as at present.

"We believe the sand-dredging project which was allowed to operate near the fish cages could have contributed to the death of the fishes.

"We have lodged reports with the state fisheries department and Fisheries Research Institute in Batu Maung, Penang, but no action was taken," he said.

State fisheries department director Mohamad Mat Saman said they would investigate the matter.

"Officers from the Department of Environment will take water samples from Sungai Semantan and determine if it was polluted due to sand-dredging activities," he said. - New Straits Times, 21/5/2009, Fish cage operators cry foul over dead tilapia