The next time you want to dig into a spiced, crunchy fried mussel or fancy some coconut-laced clam gravy while lounging in a Goa beach shack, you might have to look harder for it. An alarmed Goa forest and environment ministry last week ordered a probe into the death of thousands of clams at Velim, a coastal village in South Goa, one of the few places along the state’s coastline, where the molluscs have been surfacing for decades now. According to experts, Goa’s shellfish is also threatened by water pollution caused over the years by mining and the increasing discharge of toxins into the state’s main rivers, Mandovi in north Goa and the Zuari towards the south. The clam deaths come as yet another blow to the state’s traditional fish-loving population, which is already reeling under high prices on account of severe shortages in the fish catch over the last few months. Activist Clifton D’Souza was one of those few who saw first-hand the stretch of dead clams which lay open, with sandy grime in their cavity, instead of the sought after edible tissue. He claims the discharge of raw sewage into the Sal river is the reason for the carnage. Environment minister Alina Saldanha, who had earlier dispatched a team of the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB) to inspect the site and interact with the locals, has now ordered a detailed investigation with the help of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), a central marine research institute located in Goa.

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