Hundreds of fish farmers have lost billions of VND following a mass death of fish, which locals suspect is due to water pollution in the Dong Nai River.
On January 4, dozens of farmers raising fish in cages on the Cai River which is a branch of the Dong Nai River running through Bien Hoa City, started experiencing increased numbers of dead fish.
According to the farmers, the fish, which are mostly carp, have been seen dying for several days and they reported the situation to the local authorities. While waiting for the investigation, the fish continue to die en mass.
Farmers collected their dead fish on the Cai River on January 4
"We intend to sell the fish for the Tet Lunar New Year festival but now we've lost everything," said Tu a local farmer. "At the current price of about VND120,000 a kilo, I've lost approximately a billion."Another farmer, Nguyen Thi Xuan, said that they just saw several dead fish in their cages on the morning of January 3, by that evening they were all dead.
"We've lost nearly 10 tonnes of fish in just in a night," she said. "Most of the farmers here get bank loans to invest in fish farming and we're hugely worried about the debt."
Although there's not any conclusion from local authorities about the cause, farmers blame water pollution.
"I think that the fish died from water pollution because not only our caged fish but many other fish living outside have also died." Xuan confirmed. "I hope that government agencies discover out the real cause and solution to this problem."
