Experts in Aweil to investigate strange fish disease

A team of experts from the national Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are in Aweil to investigate the disease affecting fish in the area.

“The specialists will pick up the samples and bring them to the lab for testing,” Meshach Malo, the country representative for FAO told The City Review on a phone interview yesterday.

He said the issue had appeared in different places and people are thinking that the water could have been contaminated by the oil.

“Now we are sure that it was not oil because it is also happening in other areas where there is no oil like Aweil,” he said.

“[As part of] of preliminary investigation, it strongly suggests the disease is Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome,” he stated.

The government in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State was forced to bar residents of Aweil Central and West counties from eating fish after several of them caught lesions.

Emmanuel Dhel Peter, the spokesperson in the office of the governor, told The City Review at the time that the incident had caused a wave of fear across the affected counties.

 “There is a disease which is not known, but the ministry is still doing an investigation.” They have communicated with the national ministry of animal resources and some of the partners so that they can check what kind of a disease it is actually,” Peter said.

Last week, the state Minister for Animal Resources, Fisheries and Tourism, Diig Aher Ngong Akol, briefed the governor Tong Akeen Ngor about the situation.

The governor urged the ministry to educate the residents through a local radio about the danger of consuming those infected fish.

The Ministry of Animal Resources, Fisheries and Tourism was directed to investigate the disease to contain its possible outbreak to other unaffected counties.