Poisoning suspected in the Kinneret

Health Ministry finds over 10,000 dead fish; Israelis warned not to eat fish from Tiberias' marina.

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
kinneret tiberias 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
kinneret tiberias 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
The tens of thousands of dead fish discovered early Saturday morning in the Tiberias marina and suspected to have been poisoned do not pose any threat to the purity of the water in the Kinneret, Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night. "We took samples from both the fish and the water and sent them to the lab. There is no threat to the water," he said. The Kinneret is the largest single source of Israel's drinking water. The Agriculture and Health ministries warned the public on Saturday afternoon not to eat fish bought from unregulated sources in the marina or from elsewhere in the Kinneret. All fishing in the area was suspended. Teams that examined fish in other markets such as Nazareth did not find any poisoned specimens. Media reports suggested that fishermen may have used poison to increase their haul. "The fishermen can put an end to it [the poisoned fish] and the fact that they don't is very serious. They can end it easily," Shor told the Post. Several dead fish from the Kinneret were being analyzed by research labs and test results were expected on Sunday.