PHILIPSBURG:--- Residents heading to Philipsburg through A.T. Illidge Road on Tuesday morning could not believe what they were seeing in the Great Salt Pond. Many concerned residents stopped their vehicles, took photos and posted them on Facebook showing thousands of dead fish while some live fish were among the dead ones fighting for their lives.
Another concerned resident posted a video of the fishes that were in the pond, next to the Firgos paper store. In the video footage he was heard saying that all week there was a strong stench coming from the Great Salt Pond. However, the heavy rainfall on Monday seems to have brought out the thousands of dead fish from inside the pond. Many of them looked like "tilapia" while there were other types of local fishes among those that perished.
Head of Maintenance at the Department of VROMI Claudius "Toonje" Buncamper told SMN News that they received reports of dead fish in the Salt Pond over the weekend. Buncamper said when they checked there were indeed dead fish in the vicinity of Air Lekkerbek and Firgos Paper which is closer to the Flood Gate. Buncamper said most of the fish that perished are the local tilapia.
He said VROMI had planned to clean up the dead fishes on Monday but because of the heavy rainfall they had to change their plans and begin cleaning the roads. Buncamper further explained that on Tuesday morning they had three crews, each comprising of three to five people removing the dead fishes from the pond while they were trying to rescue those that were still alive and place them into the Fresh Pond across from Firgos Paper. When asked if he had any idea as to the cause of the fish kill, Buncamper said that he is of the opinion that the fishes died due to the lack of oxygen. He said the Great Salt Pond is only three to five feet deep therefore the oxygen level in the Great Salt Pond goes down very quickly especially during the dry season. "Our intention is to try and save those that are still alive and place them in the Fresh Pond to see how much would survive." When asked if he could give a rough estimate on the amount of fish that perished, Buncamper said there was a lot but he could not give a figure since the clean-up was still ongoing.
Rueben Thompson from EPIC and Jadira Veen from the St. Maarten Pride Foundation could not be reached for comment as both are off island.
SMN News contacted the Inspectorate Dr. Earl Best to see if his department ever tested the water in the Great Salt Pond to determine what is inside the water that could cause so much of the fish to perish. Dr. Best said that his department has no jurisdiction over the Great Salt Pond because it falls directly under the Ministry of VROMI. Dr. Best further explained that some nine months ago he was part of a meeting where he suggested that toxicology examinations be performed on the dead fishes because so far it is only the tilapias that are being affected during a certain time of the year. Dr. Best said one just cannot conclude it's a lack of oxygen because if that was the case then the other types of fish in the pond would have perished also. He said there are more questions than answers when it comes to the dead fishes in the Great Salt Pond but since it is not his domain the only thing he could do is give advice, one of the advices is to conduct toxicology testing and to bring in someone from overseas with fisheries expertise to come up with solutions. He further explained that if the problem turns out to be the lack of oxygen as concluded by VROMI then they should consider digging the pond deeper and install pumps like the ones in the Fresh Pond to generate more oxygen.
