On Saturday August 5, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Social Housing, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) of Sint Maarten deployed several agents to remove the corpses of fish bathing in the waters of the Great Salt Pond in Philipsburg.
In a statement last Saturday, the Ministry of VROMI of Sint Maarten declared: "We are busy coordinating efforts to contain and eliminate an excessive quantity of dead fish at the level of the channel which connects the ponds of fresh water and water salty. This phenomenon is not new. Over the years, in the face of extreme heat, the water deoxygenates, leading to the death of the fish”. Several similar incidents have already happened in the area in 2013, 2015 and 2020 when mass death of tilapias was seen likely due to decreased oxygen levels in the pond water. The Great Salt Pond area was once used to produce salt for export off St. Maarten. The pond is also connected to the Rolondo Channel leading to Great Bay Harbor. If we refer to the report of the Nature Foundation St. Maarten during the 2020 incident, the lack of oxygen in the water due to rising temperatures, the absence of precipitation and an increase in salt concentrations would have caused the death of the fish. In order to survive, all fish use their gills to extract oxygen from the water and help them breathe. With a decrease in oxygen in the water, the fish will find it difficult to survive and will eventually die. Other factors that can affect the amount of oxygen in the water are lack of water movement, excess waste, or certain chemical runoff into the pond. The rise of sargassum algae on the beaches in the east of the territory is also an indicator of the start of the summer season when higher temperatures and the lack of precipitation affect the environment. The population is called upon to remain vigilant and to ensure that they do not contribute to sewage problems by dumping chemicals that could enter the natural waters of the island. _VX
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