Fish choke to death after oxygen level plummets in Bangalore's Mathikere park

About 150 fish were found dead at a pond in JP Park of Mathikere on Tuesday night. Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials said that the fish were choked to death owing to excessive evaporation of water in the stagnant water body.

Executive engineer Ganaganamaya visited the pond where the fish died. The pond was one of the five water bodies in the JP Park. Three of the ponds have dried up and desilting work in under way. The fish kill has been reported from the smaller of the two other ponds, which are spread over 1,40,000 sq metres and 28,301sq metres, respectively.

He explained that while there was no problem in the big pond, water in the smaller pond was evaporating, sending the water level plummeting. Besides, there was no inflow, he pointed out. The presence of weeds and algae also hastened the fall in the dissolved oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide levels in the water, he said.

The dead fish have been identified as jalebi fish.

Denying that presence of chemicals in the water and release of effluents into it might have caused the fish kill, he said that the colour of the water in the pond was blackish. He also maintained that only water from the bigger pond flowed into the smaller one, and there was no other source of inlet.

Also, fishing was not permitted in the premises, he added. Samples of dead fish and water would be sent to laboratories for testing, and the BBMP has sought help from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board in this regard.