Philipsburg:--- On Tuesday morning the EPIC and St. Maarten Pride Foundation were notified that there was an occurrence of fish death and a large number of fishes were seen swimming towards the flood gate.EPIC President Ruben Thompson said every few weeks' fishes are dying out in the pond.
The vast amount of sand dredged from the Great Bay area and deposited in the Great Salt Pond has increased the Pond's salinity, this combined with diminished circulation and a decrease in oxygen levels continues to cause many fish of a number of different species (local and introduced species) to die.
The Foundations contacted Sector ROB requesting them to allow additional water from the fresh pond to enter the Great Salt Pond to at least temporarily alleviate the matter. Sector ROB informed the Foundations that they had already taken note of the situation and that they were running water from the fresh pond into the salt pond.
