Experts worried as dead eels found along Kenyan coastline

Conservationists, hoteliers, fishermen and residents are alarmed as dead eels are washing ashore in South Coast.

The first were found at Sand Island beach in Tiwi, where a a beachgoer took photographs, and in a WhatsApp chat group, a resident said more had been found there on Sunday.

Conservationist Luciana Parazzi told the Nation that they could not explain the occurrence.

“I have no idea what is happening. We are just as puzzled," she said.

UPWELLING

David Obura, East Africa Director of the Coastal Oceans Research and Development – Indian Ocean (CORDIO), said coastal upwelling, common along the Tanzanian and Kenyan shelves during the North-East monsoon, was a possible cause but that it was too soon to draw this conclusion.

“I heard about it two weeks ago. I have asked if it is raining in the area. There has been cold water from around mid January," he said.

"Every now and then in this season there is upwelling of cold water from deep down. It has a lot of nutrients in it. It is natural but it is very unusual, but this  is all speculation."

Dr Obura explained that the swell is caused by intensification of wind and leads to cool and nutrient-rich waters, which are brought to the surface.

He said this is followed by enhanced primary production and widespread phytoplankton blooms.

This year, it appears, the upwelling is unusually strong.

PHENOMENON

Animations of the near real-time remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll and ocean currents show how the situation has developed over the last few weeks.

Dr Obura said oceanographers put together a web-page describing the phenomenon, triggered by observations of deaths of moray eels on the reefs at Tiwi.

“We don’t know if there is any association between these events, but major blooms of plankton and mantis shrimp have been made during this season in some years, and sporadic fish mortalities – so there may be a connection," he said.

“I have been at the Kenyan coast for 25 years and I have not seen eels showing up like this," he noted.

He added that they live in the reef and are edible but are not a preferred delicacy for many and are rarely fished.

PROBE SLOW

Sam Ikwaye, Executive Officer of the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers, said the government had been slow in probing the matter.

“It must alarm us all. It's new. What's more alarming is that agencies have been lax in taking action. We can't afford to joke with the environment and hope to have a tourism industry at the Coast," he said.