The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Red tide: role of industrial effluents ruled out

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 28, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Red tide: role of industrial effluents ruled out

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 27 . Further scientific investigations into the `red tide bloom' that caused mass mortality of fish along the city coast earlier this month, have ruled out the possibility of industrial effluents acting as a trigger for the phenomenon.

The Chemical Sciences division of CESS, which carried out a detailed survey, has reported that the effluents from the Travancore Titanium Products factory could not have played a role in the red tide phenomenon since they are acidic in nature. Initial assessments had indicated that the factory effluents could have contributed to the conditions, which led to the colossal multiplication of dinoflagellate plankton in the coastal waters and the resultant fish kill.

Upwelling

The CESS team also reversed its earlier assumption that the red tide had nothing to do with upwelling of the sea. The latest findings indicate that the extension of the red tide up to 10 km inside the sea was caused by upwelling.

According to a note issued from the centre, the upwelling process might have brought an abnormally high amount of nutrients to the surface. Together with the sewage washed out to sea from the coastal areas, it created conditions ideal for the plankton bloom, the report says.

The CESS team had detected a high count of faecal coliform bacteria in the coastal regions of Poonthura, Valiathura, Veli and Velipozhy where sewage from the city finds outlets to the sea. A similar red tide phenomenon, which occurred at Thangassery in Kollam the previous week, was also attributed to the discharge of raw sewage into the sea.

Seminar

Meanwhile, in a bid to bridge the views expressed by various agencies probing the red tide phenomenon and to dispel apprehensions among fishworkers, the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation has organised a seminar on `The red tide and its impact on fish resources' here on Tuesday.

Scientists, officials from the Fisheries and Health departments, political and social leaders and fishworkers will participate in the event. The Fisheries Minister, Dominique Presentation, is scheduled to inaugurate the seminar.

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