Led by Dr Varsha Gupta, a team of Bioscience and Biotechnology department conducted the study over the past eight months and found that “ Rita” the highly commercial fish was on the verge of depletion in river Ganga in Kanpur. Besides, many other fishes have also depleted. They either died or have moved to some other safe places.
Dr Varsha Gupta said growing pollution in the river caused the depletion of the fishes. It also made them sick she added. She said there was immediate need of checking the water pollution as the depletion of fishes and other aquatic life would cause serious ecological imbalance.
The worst affected species of fishes are Rita, Bagridae, Magur and catfish fishes. They are dying due to failure of liver, kidney and veins. Besides, their gills and fins were also found affected.
The laboratory tests of water samples showed the higher presence of Chromium, lead, Arsenic, Mercury and Methylene Chloride. Most of these chemical are discharged through the industrial waste in the river Ganga at several places. Besides, the domestic sewer water also added to the water pollution. On the other hand the environmentalists feel that the fishes were also depleting for want of feed.
