A large amount of fish, mainly yellowtail, appeared floating today (13) in Lagoa de Marapendi and Canal das Taxas, in Barra da Tijuca, west of Rio. The lagoon is part of the Jacarepaguá Lagoon System, which releases millions of raw sewage into the environment every day. Biologist Mário Moscatelli, who has been working for 30 years in the fight against the sediment thrown daily into the lagoon, said that “decades of neglect with urban sanitation and the disorderly growth of properties in the region affect the most vulnerable species, which are yellowtails”.
The fish completely took over the Lagoa de Marapendi and the Canal das Taxas. Residents of buildings near the lake are already feeling the strong stench of fish death, due to the strong heat in Rio.
The Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb) informed that “although the removal of dead fish in the Lagoa de Marapendi and Canal das Taxas is outside the company’s area of operation, a team of 20 street sweepers started this Friday afternoon ( 13) the collection of fish that touch the banks, with nets. It is worth noting that the responsibility for the environmental management of the Lagoa de Marapendi rests with the State Institute for the Environment (Inea) and Comlurb removes it only when the waste reaches the beach sands”.
Inea informed, through a note, that it carried out an inspection in the Marapendi Channel this morning, to respond to the complaint of fish mortality. Water quality samples were collected from the Canal and forwarded to the Inea laboratory for the issuance of a conclusive opinion on the causes of mortality”.
The institute also said that “the observed phenomenon was probably caused, as already occurred in the same period of the year, by the drop in water oxygenation, associated with the high temperature of the environment and the carriage of organic matter into the water body due to the rains that occurred in the last days”.
