Shaheen: The drought of Sidi Al-Mujib and Al-Waala led to the loss of 10 species of fish

Weather of Arabia - The head of the Association of Fish Breeders and Marine Biology, Engineer Muhammad Shaheen, said that the drought of Sidi Al-Mujib and Al-Waala led to the loss of 10 species of fish from two breeds: "Tilabia" and "Carpa".

And he indicated in a statement that the amount of fish lost from the Mujib dam, about 5 million fish, weighing 500 tons, were lost over the course of 3 months. Likewise, about 2 million fish of the same breeds were lost in the Wala Dam, indicating that investment in the fish sector constitutes a national wealth estimated at about 500 to 600 million dinars annually.

Shaheen explained that the reason for the death of these quantities of fish was due to the increase in the percentage of water toxicity caused by the lack of water level and the increase in the density of fish, until the situation of these dams became completely dry, which led to the lack of the marine and fish environment completely inside, in addition to the direct damage to the deaths The entire marine environment in those dams also harmed farmers.

He wondered about the measures taken by the Jordan Valley Authority after the dams dried up! To start cleaning these dams, even though they contain large amounts of silt and sediment, especially with the approach of the rainy season for the current year and the possibility of rain depressions during the next week or the following. Noting that the efficiency of dams has become low over the past years, because some dams have reached about 55 percent of silt and sediment levels, in addition to the fact that many dams in the Kingdom are not exploited until now and are absent from investment in them.

He criticized the failure to develop plans for how to organize the restricted crops according to each rainy season, so that it is allowed to grow crops according to the rain quantities in each season, and farmers are directed and alerted that this water is not sufficient only for the crops that the quantities of water in the dams can irrigate according to the agricultural holdings.

Shaheen noted that the compensation fund at the Ministry of Agriculture will compensate farmers affected by these problems, but for how long will this fund pay compensation instead of losses facing farmers.

Shaheen believes that dams should be managed better, in terms of placing specialists in dam projects and their management, because these sites lack specialists and the law empties the ministry of specialists, so the status of specialists who organize the work of these projects and know how to use them should be reviewed.

He called for the formation of a committee to investigate the problem of the drying up of the waters of the Mujib and Wala dams to limit the damage that was lost to the fisheries in the two sites, in addition to taking the necessary measures and managing these dams better and cleaning those dams from the sediment accumulated in them. It is estimated at about 5 million cubic meters out of the 29 million cubic meters total dam It is necessary to develop an investment plan for the absent and unimplemented dam sites.