Communities on the east coast of Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province report that contact with the seawater there has made people sick since December 2025; residents have also reported spikes in the number of dead fish and other marine life along the shoreline.A group of local and international NGOs has responded, providing help with sampling to determine the cause and raising money for the affected villages.New Ireland’s coastal communities depend on the sea for food, but government officials have warned against eating fish until the cause of the problems has been identified.Government ministries have been aware of the situation for at least two months, and while leaders say that tissue, water and soil samples have been collected, no results have been released yet.
For several months, the waters around New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea have been causing illness, skin irritation and the death of sea life, according to communities living along the east coast of the island.
In December 2025, residents say they began noticing that fish and other marine life were turning up dead along the shoreline, according to a coalition that is organizing a relief effort. John Aini, the founder of the Indigenous marine conservation organization Ailan Awareness, who is from New Ireland province, said the flesh of these fish was discolored, the eyes of some had popped out of their sockets and others had visible damage to their brains.
