Officials testing Anegada waters as fish kill worries community

Environmental health officials have been dispatched to assess the recent fish kill in Anegada waters, with early concerns raised about potential health risks and broader ecological damage.

Speaking on ZBVI radio recently, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Ronald Smith-Berkeley, said his ministry became aware of the situation last week and immediately contacted officials from the Department of Agriculture & Fisheries, as they are expected to take the lead in determining the cause of the fish deaths.

Since then, government officials have been deployed to Anegada to conduct on-the-ground assessments and water testing. And while officials work, one marine stakeholder believes the kill is due to the recurring sargassum influxes affecting coastal ecosystems across the territory.

Chris Juredin, a marine specialist and founder of Commercial Diver Services, said the heavy sargassum can suffocate marine life by depleting oxygen levels in shallow waters.

“What’s going to happen now is that seaweed is going to inundate the shoreline and estuaries… it depletes the oxygen from the water column… and it kills all the fish,” Juredin explained. He warned that juvenile fish populations — critical to the marine food chain — are being lost “by the thousands.”

Juredin said similar impacts are already visible in other areas, including Hunts Creek and Sea Cows Bay, suggesting the problem is territory-wide and worsening. He also criticised what he described as a lack of preparedness, arguing that the BVI has known about the growing sargassum problem since 2014 but has not implemented sufficient long-term solutions.

“As a country, we should be proactive. But [we’re] sitting idle, watching this happen year after year.  It’s just silly. We need to act now,” he said.

The diver added that mitigation tools such as containment booms could help protect sensitive areas like Anegada’s salt ponds and mangroves, which serve as breeding grounds for marine species, but said implementation has been slowed by policy and funding constraints. Officials are expected to provide updates as testing continues and more information becomes available.