Public urged to avoid contact with dead marine animals on Mossel Bay shoreline

The Department of Forestry and Fisheries is urging the public not to handle or consume marine animals washed up along the Mossel Bay shoreline.

This comes as the Mossel Bay Estuary experiences a mass mortality of fish.

While similar deaths have recently been reported along the West Coast, the department says the two incidents are not linked.

With the return of the red tide along the country’s West Coast, discoloured waters have led to the mass mortality of shellfish, including mussels and oysters.

These marine animals have washed up along large stretches of the West Coast, but now the Mossel Bay Estuary is also experiencing a mass die-off, with fish washing up along its shoreline.

The department has reassured the public that the fish deaths at the estuary are not linked to the red tide and are also not the result of a sewage spill.

Instead, officials attribute the mortality to increased nutrient levels in the water, linked to reduced freshwater inflow and a bloom of harmful algae.