Assessment of Short-term Effects of Pollution Accident on Fisheries in River Nile, Egypt

Abstract

Fisheries This study outlines the immediate impact on local fisheries of the incident that took place on 21 st April 2015. A barge capsized in the Nile in Upper Egypt's Qena governorate after colliding with the foundations of the city's Dandara Bridge. The capsized barge was carrying 500 tons of phosphate (pre-industrial, inert material) for processing in a local factory. The study aimed to record any apparent effect of the incident on the fisheries in the immediate site vicinity and downstream. Also, it described the status quo of the fisheries around the incident location to compare it with the situation before the accident to confirm any short-term impact and to establish a baseline for any future, long-term, impact studies. Data were collected on fish assemblage structure in the incident site vicinity, the number of fishing boats and fishing methods that were applied to catch them. Furthermore, some fisheries biological parameters were assessed. The main conclusions derived from the study were that fishing in the vicinity of the incident is artisanal with small boats and simple fishing gears. The fisheries biological parameters of the area's fishery are comparable to that of other similar environs, and that the incident did not have an apparent short term effect on the fishery profile of the area. The main recommendations resulted from this study were that the impact of the incident on fish at the molecular level should be studied and that the state of fisheries in the area should be followed up to detect any long-term impact of the incident.