Hundreds of dead fish washed up from Isipingo Beach Lagoon in Durban over the weekend and environmental activists and fishers blame a broken sewer pump station. Now they are calling on the municipality to take action.

In an update on 9 August 2022, the eThekwini Municipality admitted there was a problem at a pump station, saying that in the interest of public safety, the City had decided to prohibit access to the affected water courses until the pump station was repaired.

Between January 2014 and November 2020 there have been a number of media reports about hundreds of dead fish at Isipingo Beach. Janet Simpkins, founder of local river watchdog group Adopt-a-River, said the City had posted about the issue on Facebook, “and if this is a known fault, why have greater efforts not been made to solve the root cause of this pollution”.

She said they were seeing recurring incidents of river pollution, not only in Isipingo but also the Umgeni River. “It’s a number of pollutants that are affecting our rivers. This is not related to the floods as it is an ongoing thing.”

KwaZulu-Natal Subsistence Fishing Forum ex-chairperson Riaz Khan said: “Looking at the moss and the green colour of the sand… the sewage is what killed the fish. This is bad and as it is not only the little fish that have died, it’s hundreds of different species that died. The water is heavily contaminated and there is a strong stench coming from the water.”

Residents have been warned not to collect the dead fish at Isipingo Beach Lagoon. (Photo: Supplied)

Khan said this is totally unacceptable as hundreds of fishers use the area to feed their families.

“The City is saying people must not fish or eat fish from the area, but they have made no provision for the fisherfolk who depend on fishing to survive in the area and surrounding areas,” he said.

Khan said the municipality is not willing to compensate the people who fish there.

Dead fish at Isipingo Beach Lagoon following a sewage spill. (Photo: Supplied)

“With the escalating rate of unemployment, the fisherfolk are not looking for handouts… they use their skills to fish and sell their fish to feed their families. The City cannot take care of its infrastructure and there is no hope for the people who live by fishing in the polluted area.

“I don’t know where is the spirit of ubuntu as hundreds of fisherfolk went home with nothing to put on the table.”

Khan said that since 2014 the municipality has ignored everything that leads to the sea and nature.

“We need to know how long this will take to clean, what chemical is in the water and were there any tests done. We need the tests to know how far the contaminated water has gone – this is for our safety,” he said.

He said the sewage infrastructure has been neglected in the eThekwini Municipality.

Desmond D’Sa of the South Durban Community Environment Alliance said eThekwini must do more than just ban public access to the beach since this has done little to stop locals from collecting and eating the fish.

“A few of my colleagues were out there in the past couple of days and many people are picking up the fish. You can imagine the kind of impact that fish will have on them if they eat the fish,” he said.

The municipality said an investigation to determine the cause of the pollution is under way. (Photo: Supplied)

D’Sa said there is no sign of any municipal official, no security, so people are taking the fish. 

“We are hoping to get the government out there urgently. We need to get security there that will monitor people from picking up the fish and taking them home to eat,” he said.

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The municipality said in a statement that an investigation to determine the root cause of the pollution is under way. It cautioned the public to refrain from fishing in the vicinity and from collecting or consuming the dead fish while the clean-up operation is under way.

“In the interest of public safety, the City has taken a decision to prohibit access to the affected water courses until repairs to the pump station are finalised,” it said.

The municipality added that “specialist clean-up crews are on site to collect and dispose of the fish in a responsible manner”, warning that contact with the lagoon and seawater must be avoided.

“The City will continue to monitor water quality in rivers and beaches through sampling and field surveys.” DM/OBP