Ghana investigates after dead fish, dolphins wash up on shore

Accra, Ghana — Authorities in Ghana on Monday said they were investigating after the country’s coastal areas were flooded with different species of dead fish and scores of dolphins.

The dead fish washed up on three different Atlantic Ocean coastal areas of the West African country over the weekend, officials said.

“We’ve counted about 60 dead dolphins here alone at the beach and other smaller fish. It is quite strange and we really can’t tell what’s happening,” Samuel Obeng, a fisherman at Axim in the Western Region area, told local media.

He said it was rare for fish to wash up in such large numbers.

Officials of the country’s Fisheries Commission have confirmed the incident and said samples have been taken for laboratory analysis.

“Upon arrival at the beach, the team noticed that there were dead small pelagic and demersal fish at the shore. Initial observation… showed no wound/lesions on their bodies,” Executive Director of the Fisheries Commission, Michael Arthur-Dadzie, said in a statement.

He said fish and seawater samples were being examined to determine to cause.

“The color of the sea and temperature are normal. We assure everyone that we are working hard to ascertain the actual cause of mortality of the fish.”

Ghana is located on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea with a shoreline stretching some 550 kilometers (340 miles) with a quarter of the country’s population living by the sea.