The ministry of animal resource and fisheries in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state urged the local population in Aweil West not to consumed catfish after many of them caught with wounds. Official said it is not clear what is causing that but have launched an investigation to examine the wounds that is found among the catfish.
Luka Manut Jel is the director general in the ministry of animal resource and fisheries in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. He said a team has been dispatched to investigate the issue that has been discovered common among the catfish and rare cases among scale fish.
“Yesterday, we sent our team to Nyamlel after receiving the report from the county authority, and we are planning to go for another assessment that will include our partner organizations and the national ministry of fisheries, but for now we advise the public not to eat the catfish until investigations are done on what causes the wounds on the fish type.”
Some of the community members in Aweil West who spoke to Akol Yam 91 FM said the issue started over the weekend and they are worried of health risk. They said the ministry of animal resources and fisheries should do a research on what happened in Nyamlel River that is causing all the fish to have wounds.
One of the local in Nyamlel town said he personally witness the issue “I went to the riverside, fish are recovered dead with wounds all over their bodies, I have asked my family members not to eat any type of food until the authority tells us what is happening.”
Hon. Chok Dut Chok is the commissioner of Aweil West County. He urged the public to respect the call made by the ministry official.