High Tide, Red Tide And Now Low Tide In Brunei Waters

Bandar Seri Begawan – For the past three days, parts of Brunei's coastal waters have been affected by the red tide phenomenon.

At the same time, the country's rivers have been experiencing very low ebb tides, especially in Kampong Ayer.

Prior to that, these rivers and Kampong Ayer witnessed exceptionally high tides especially during night time.

Such low tides measured at 0.7 meters, none the less the Brunei River remained busy with water taxi operators plying to and fro.

The low tide is expected to continue during the day time until December 27 with depth measuring as low as 0.4 meter.

As was during the recent high tide, water taxi operators are similarly advised to take extreme precaution during the current low tides.

The low tides situation has also attracted an assortment of wild life, including migratory birds such as cattle egrets to feed on the mud flats.

This can only demonstrate that pollution in our rivers is still under control even though garbage could be found on banks and also floating on the river.

The low tides usually occur twice annually as a result of the pull of the sun and moon, which causes the water levels to differ from one part of the world to another.

Meanwhile, the latest monitoring by the Fisheries Department has shown that the red tide has spread to Seria, Lumut and Anduki about 7.0 kilometres from the coast.

The other affected areas that have been identified are Pelompong, Pancang Merah, Pancang Hijau, the Pilong Rocks, Berakas, Jerudong and Tutong beaches.

The public, especially fishermen, are banned from catching and harvesting small and planktivorous fish such as Sardines, Mackerels, Shads, anchovies, trevallies, scads, kirang-kirang, dayang-dayang, parangiyang, minyak-minyak and molluscan shellfish as well as collecting dead fish from the affected waters.

The public is also advised to abstain from eating fish and shellfish of unknown origin as an added precaution.

During the current situation, the Fisheries authorities would like to assure the public not to be alarmed as the contingency measures under the national red tide action plan have been activated and the red tide monitoring activities will continuously be stepped up.

The department will also keep the public informed of the current situation from time to time.

The public especially fishermen, however, can assist the department by reporting any water discolorations as well as any mass fish mortalities in Brunei waters or around the country's beaches. They are urged to telephone 881-9218, 878-6399 or 888-7480. -- Courtesy of Radio Television Brunei

Related Story: Deadly Red Tide Makes A Comeback In Brunei

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