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Fishing ban hits villagers' pockets |
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Written by Vientiane Times
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Tuesday, 02 June 2009 11:15 |
The village has about 340 families. About 70 percent are farmers and fishermen, supplying food for the village and Vientiane markets.
“We used to catch an average of about 100 kilos of fish per day before this happened. We could fish almost all year round,” Mr Chansy said.
The villagers are tired of eating only meat, mushrooms, bamboo and noodles, as this is what they've been eating for over 10 days.
“Now we're killing one head of cattle and selling it in the village every few days,” he said.
Permission to catch fish in the local area would not be given until the results of scientific analysis by the Water Resources and Environmental Agency (WREA) were announced.
Water and fish samples were taken on May 22 for analysis in labs at the Food and Drug Department and the WREA to identify the cause of the deaths.
WREA Pollution Control Division Director of the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Phengkhamla Phonvisai, said the test results may be delayed further. The villagers and the factory believe the stream and ponds are now almost completely clean.
Factory staff are removing mud from the bottom of the creek downstream and clearing weeds and overgrown areas, hoping this will allow more sunlight to hit the creek and banks and break down the pollutants faster.
“Only about 100 to 200 metres of weeds and overgrown areas by the creek have not been cleared yet,” Mr Chansy said.
The water in both the stream and the lake is no longer dark and cloudy and the appearance of the lake has returned to normal. The stream is clean now and there are many fish swimming around.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 June 2009 11:18 |