Nearly 1,000 TONS of #fish dead in a river in #DongNai, #Vietnam

Nearly 1,000 tonnes of fish have died since last Thursday on the La Ngà River in southern Đồng Nai Province, causing losses of billions of đồng to local fish farming households.

Ngô Tấn Tài, vice chairman of the Định Quán District’s People’s Committee, told Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper that 81 fish farming households from La Ngà and Phú Ngọc communes had reported 977 tonnes of dead fish as of Monday.

The fish, including hemibagrus, red tilapia and carp, were mature and ready to be sold.

Earlier, last Friday, the committee reported there were 16 affected households in the two communes with 330 tonnes of dead fish.

Tài explained that the committee so far still had no final figure and would continue to collect statistics on dead fish from local households to get the most accurate number.

Tài asked the provincial People’s Committee, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to work with relevant agencies to investigate the mass fish deaths.

On May 16, fish farming households found their stock floating on the water after heavy rainfall occurred at about 5am. They showed signs of a lack of oxygen.

The households said they did all they could to save the fish, including using oxygen aerators and pulling fish cages towards lower areas of the river. However, the fish still died en mass.

On May 18, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment required the provincial People’s Committee to take water and fish samples to evaluate the pollution of the river and re-examine wastewater sources being discharged into the river.

Courtesy of vietnamnews.vn

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