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The rate at which oysters are dying at the Khairan beach has doubled since the incident was first reported last Wednesday, an environmental organization warned in a statement yesterday in which they demanded extensive investigation to find the reasons behind this phenomenon. "The Kuwait Dive Team found piles of dead oysters in numbers that vastly exceed those first reported on Wednesday", team leader and President of the Environment Voluntary Foundation Waleed Al-Fadhel said yesterday. He further indicated that other marine species such as crabs were found dead at the same site.

This comes as a government body rejected concern about a potential environmental phenomenon behind the massive number of dead oysters reported recently at the Khairan beach. "The dead oysters were likely disposed by people who caught them for consumption or to look for pearl", said Dr Muna Husain, head of the biodiversity protection department at the Environment Public Authority. She further added in a statement Thursday that "dead oysters naturally do not float to the surface, but remain attached to the seafloor or rocks near the beach".

Newspapers had quoted Al-Fadhel who insisted that what happened was not a result of human intervention. "Dead oysters were opened by 45 degrees whereas a person looking for pearl would open the shells by 180 degrees", he explained in statements to Al-Watan daily. Al-Fadhel further indicated that three types of shellfish, in addition to squids and algae were recorded in the death site, which he says further supports the argument that what happened was a result of pollution or natural phenomenon.

The Green Line, meanwhile, seems to agree that the dead oysters were washed ashore after being first caught then dropped back in the sea. "According to eyewitnesses and scientific indicators compiled by marine specialists, there is no doubt that the oysters were first removed from the seafloor and then thrown back to the water by perpetrators looking for pearl", Green Line President Khalid Al-Hajri said in a statement Thursday.

He further indicated that his group "managed to identify people suspected in this crime" through an "environmental inspection method that the Green Line exclusively adopts". Al-Hajri also took the opportunity to criticize the EPA for "failing to protect the Kuwaiti shores as shown evident by the recent incident", and also blamed "a voluntary organization which hosts a traditional pearl diving ceremony every year".

Harvesting pearl oil is illegal in Kuwait's territorial waters as per a Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources decision made in 2007 to protect the marine species from overfishing. The dead oysters were found near a location known historically as the "best spot to fish for pear oyster in Kuwaiti waters", according to Al-Fadhel.

"The spot located in front of Al-Khairan at depths ranging between 1 and 4 meters is considered the best pearl diving spot for the past 300 years for producing the most expensive kinds of pearl in the world", said Al-Fadhel who called for procedures to protect "the national wealth". Meanwhile, Al-Fadhel revealed that the Kuwait Dive Team recorded red tide in Al-Fentas Thursday, but did not connect between this phenomenon and the oyster deaths.