Our Rivers Are Dying Quietly — And No One Is Talking About It

When a pipeline bursts and oil spreads visibly across the water, it makes the news, as it should. But the slower degradation of our creeks, from decades of smaller leaks, waste dumping, and mangrove clearing, rarely gets the same attention, because there is no single dramatic image to attach to it.

Fish catches have declined steadily for years. Elders will tell you, if you ask, how different the water looked when they were young. This is not a controversial claim among the people who actually depend on these waters for a living.

We do not need another commission. We need sustained, boring, unglamorous monitoring, and a media that covers slow decline with the same seriousness it covers a single dramatic spill.