Fish sales in Qatar have fallen by 50 percent in the wake of the death of millions of fish in Kuwaiti waters, reported the Gulf Times newspaper on Tuesday.
“Sales have fallen by nearly 50 percent especially in shrimps and some selected varieties of fish from Iran,” an official told the paper.
A ban was imposed on the import of shrimps and fish from Iran but the authorities later lifted the ban after safety clearance given by lab tests.
Iran has been the major source of supply of shrimps to Qatar in view of the restriction on the harvesting them in local waters.
In spite of the lifting of the ban on Iranian shrimps, people are hesitant to buy, said the paper.
In Kuwait, AFP said that Kuwaiti environmental organizations plan to sue the government over the death of thousands of tons of fish in Kuwaiti waters over the past month.
Lawyer Salah al-Hashim said he was representing a group of 2,500 people, comprising members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), fishermen, activists and intellectuals, in a legal action against the government.
The fledgling NGO, Greenline, organized Monday a sit-in outside parliament ahead of a meeting of the assembly’s environment committee with between 20 and 30 protesters waving banners reading: Who is responsible? and Save the marine environment.
Nobody has given us the right answer, we have the right to know why the fish are dying, as well as who is responsible and what action will be taken, said Hashim, also a founding member of Greenline.
He said the NGOs would also sign a petition and submit it to both parliament and the government. Greenline members will sail along Kuwait’s coast next week in protest at marine pollution.
If we see any pollution in our waters, well take further action, Hashim warned.
Lawyer and activist Ali al-Baghli called for serious laws and serious supervision to prevent similar crises in future. Parliament should take serious measures to deal with this crisis, Baghli said.
The most probable cause of the deaths was an outbreak of bacterial infection sparked by a combination of climatic and urban development-related factors, according to a probe by US marine experts – Albawaba.com
