Australian hatchery gathers more evidence on pesticide pollution: Fish, horses, poultry ail affected says hatchery owner

摘要

The sorry saga of Sunland Fish Hatcheries in Noosa, Queensland continues. Since Gwen Gilson's letter in the last issue of Hatchery International the situation has deteriorated. The new manager of the neighbouring macadamia nut farm reportedly sprayedpesticides on days when Gwen's smudge fires indicated the drift is across her land and hatchery. And when the manager saw Gwen taking video evidence of this, things became less than cordial. There are two distinct fish related syndromes observed that have been attributed to the spraying: one of nervous system toxicity, and another of embryonic deformity. Further batches of this season's larvae have been observed convulsing, and once again responded to administration of atropine, strongly implicating organophosphate exposure as the cause. The treated larvae survive, the untreated larvae die.