Fish crisis tops ministerial security meeting

The death of fish in Babil topped the meeting of the Security Council headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Adel Abdul Mahdi, and resulted in several decisions on the dead fish crisis.
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"The council discussed the death of fish in the province of Babil and the rest of the provinces and was hosted by the Minister of Health and Environment and members of the crisis cell and the undersecretaries of the ministries of health, environment, agriculture and water resources," Abdul Mahdi said in a statement received by the agency All Iraq [ Minister of Health and the Environment gave a detailed explanation on this subject, where he supervised with the Minister of Agriculture field to follow up and discuss the causes and consequences of the death of fish.[/ltr]
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He added that "the Council was briefed on the efforts being made to deal with the matter. A crisis cell was formed comprising the agents of the relevant ministries and a committee headed by the President of the Babil Governorate Council and the directors of the concerned departments and directing the state effort to recover dead fish and prevent its spread to other governorates. Specialized in the Ministry of Agriculture, Health and Environment and specialized international laboratories to confirm the initial diagnosis and exclude any other possible causes.[/ltr]
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He explained that "according to the preliminary diagnosis of veterinary laboratories, the cause is bacterial fungal infections and according to this preliminary diagnosis there is no scientific evidence of the transmission of this type of disease to humans, and briefed the Council on the latest information on this subject, which indicates the decline of fish deaths and accelerated cleaning of the river fish Dead and buried in designated sites. "[/ltr]
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The council called on the concerned parties to expedite the completion of immediate urgent measures to address the phenomenon, intensify media and awareness campaigns for citizens and stakeholders and the need to expedite and follow up the results of the examinations and inform the Ministerial Council for National Security. .[/ltr]
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"With regard to the treaty banning nuclear weapons, the Council decided that the position of Iraq is to wait at the moment to join the treaty," he said,
He also pointed out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up the matter carefully and coordinate with the Ministry of Interior regarding border control. The situation in the camp is under control and cooperation with all friendly parties. Recommendations of the Supreme National Commission for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances ".[/ltr]


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Iraqi fishermen have been busy scooping thousands of dead carp from the River Euphrates after the fish were found mysteriously floating in the water in Babil province, south of Baghdad.
In a development that is sure to impact local livelihoods, residents have spoken of their fears that the fish wipeout might be the result of contaminated water.

While the reason for the deaths has not yet been determined, agricultural chief Safaa al-Junaibi believes that overcrowded fish farms and a rapid spread of bacterial disease could be to blame.

One local man, Hussein Faraj, who has worked to clean up the grisly scene, said there are suggestions that water pollution could have had a hand in the incident.

Images taken at Musayyib, Babil Province, reveal large swathes of carp lying dead in nets. In drone footage, dead fish can also be seen floating on the surface of the Euphrates.
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Water pollution is currently plaguing parts of the country and this the problem has hospitalized thousands of Iraqi people. In August, Ryad Abdel Amir, head of Basra's health department, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that more than 17,000 people in the city alone had been admitted to hospital for stomach pains and vomiting, due to drinking local water.

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