Submission by PALU: Fish deaths in the Saramaccarivier not an incident, but a national disaster

The fish deaths in the Saramacca River are not an isolated incident but a national disaster, according to the Progressieve Arbeiders- en Landbouwers Unie (PALU). The party believes the government has taken insufficient measures and calls for broader investigations, full transparency and better protection of communities along the river.

Almost three months ago, the Saramacca River itself sounded the alarm: massive fish deaths occurred. Last week, President Jennifer Simons finally spoke plainly, according to PALU: Grassalco is responsible and a letter would follow. Nothing more.

PALU states that this issue cannot be dealt with through a letter. According to the party, it concerns a national disaster that must also be named and treated as such.

Do not eat fish

At the end of June, the first reports of dead fish in the river emerged. According to PALU, it took more than two months before the Nationale Milieu Autoriteit provided clarity.

Last week, the president confirmed what many had already feared, according to the party: cyanide was the cause of the fish deaths and elevated concentrations of heavy metals were found, including in live fish.

Communities around the Moeroekreek and the area where it flows into the Saramacca River, where Indigenous peoples and Maroons have lived for generations and depend on the river, are now advised not to eat fish from the river.

According to PALU, that is a grave message for communities for which the river is not a secondary matter but an important source of livelihood.

The river does not stop at the concession boundary

PALU calls the president’s response insufficient. According to the party, she speaks mainly about the communities in the immediate vicinity of the concession and the Moeroekreek.

“But heavy metals do not disappear. They accumulate, are carried along by the current and can contaminate the water far into the coastal plain, where many more people live than just in the immediate vicinity of Grassalco,” the party states.

PALU asks why no warning has been issued for residents along the entire Saramacca River, all the way to its mouth. The party also wants to know what the possible consequences are for fish from the coastal area into which the contaminated river water eventually flows.

Interests at the top of the government?

PALU also finds it remarkable that the president did not speak about companies that, with Grassalco’s permission, are said to mine gold using cyanide in the same concession area.

According to the party, nothing was said either about a possible ban on the import of cyanide or stricter supervision of gold mining in which this substance is used.

PALU states that the local Indigenous population has long suspected that interests at the top of the government play a role. If actual measures again fail to materialise, the government itself will contribute to strengthening that suspicion, according to the party.

The people pay the bill

Grassalco is a state-owned company and therefore, according to PALU, the property of society. When the company is held responsible for the damage, the bill will ultimately be passed on to the people, according to the party.

“The same population that is already suffering from contaminated water and lost fish catches will also soon pay the restoration costs,” PALU states.

The party believes that concrete and structural measures to prevent a recurrence have so far failed to materialise.

Protect the people, not only the government’s image

PALU calls on the president to immediately issue a broad warning to all communities downstream along the Saramacca River and on the coast near the Coppename. According to the party, the warning should not be limited to residents around the Moeroekreek.

According to PALU, investigations must also be conducted without delay in the coastal area where the river water flows into the sea. This must establish whether fish, crabs and other marine animals have been contaminated.

According to the party, the investigation results must be made fully public and must not disappear into a closed report.

In addition, PALU demands clarity about the companies mining gold with cyanide in Grassalco’s concession area and about the permission granted for this. Withholding this information will further increase existing distrust, according to the party.

Preventing a recurrence

PALU calls on President Simons to take her responsibility as head of government seriously. Providing food packages to affected families is not structural policy but merely a temporary emergency measure, according to the party.

There must be clarity and protection for everyone living along the river, from the concession area to the sea. The party also advocates strict and independent supervision of gold mining involving cyanide.

“Political courage is needed to name uncomfortable interests as well. A recurrence of this life-threatening cyanide contamination must be prevented at all costs,” PALU states.

 PALU secretariat, Mass Communication and PR