A large number of dead fish have washed ashore in Arbaeen Lake after the recent rainfall and with Jeddah police preventing expatriates from netting the fish. Authorities have taken samples from the dead fish for analysis to determine the causes of the phenomenon. Assistant undersecretary for sustainable development at the General Authority for Meteorology and Environmental Protection (GAMEP), Abdulhadi Al-Omari, said that a working team had been formed in the Makkah region to examine the state of the lake, and that the authority was working with King Abdulaziz University and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to analyze the dead fish. Al-Omari said that people who visit the lake for fishing were prevented from going, and in cooperation with the Municipality of Jeddah, police prevented workers from collecting the dead fish. Al-Omari said that it is most likely that the mass death was likely due to the failure of pumps. Large quantities of rain water entering the lake could also be a possibility, he said. Al-Omari stressed that the responsibility for what happens in these lakes from pollution is not the prerogative of GAMEP, as it works on environmental protection only. He said that the lakes experience discharge from ground water, water treatment, rain water, soil, and sewage systems, and called for other responsible parties to rectify their situations so that the authority can begin to rehabilitate the lake.
