Velidhoo Council withdraws earlier claim and says the cause of the mass fish die-off remains unknown

Velidhoo Council says the exact cause behind the mass die-off of bigeye scads inside the island’s harbor remains unknown, retracting its earlier claim that a visiting fishing boat had caused the incident.

Videos circulating on social media show large numbers of dead fish floating inside the Velidhoo port, prompting concern among residents.

Council Vice-Chairperson Hafiza Ibrahim initially told Sun that the fish died after a boat entering the harbor early on Friday evening poured contaminated water into the basin. She has since withdrawn the statement, noting that police contacted the boat’s owner and confirmed the vessel was a licensed reef-fishing boat, not a sea cucumber extracting vessel. As such, the incident was not caused by the boat, Hafiza said.

She said the council now believes the fish likely died of natural causes, most probably due to oxygen depletion when large numbers of fish crowded the harbor during low tide, with no way to get out. Hafiza stressed that this remains a hypothesis, as the exact cause has yet to be confirmed. Fishermen also note that when scad schools enter enclosed waters such as the harbour area of islands, they are usually chased by giant trevally and jackfish species, causing the sad to sometimes even swim ashore in their flight.

She added that Velidhoo has few sea-fishing vessels and that many residents rely on reef fish or the bigeye scads that enter the port basin for food, making the incident a significant loss for the community.