Nguyen Ngoc Ha, owner of a fish farm in Ea Na Commune, Krong Ana District said that more than a tonne of fish had died in his cages over the past few days and the situation is continuing.
"I've got 29 fish cages in the river," Ha said. "I've tried some measures to protect the fish but they just didn't work. I've had to hire many people to collect the dead fish to avoid pollution."
The farmer said that the fish might have died from the hot weather.
"The water temperatures reached as high as 37 degrees Celsius or more at 3 pm during some recent days," he said. "The calm water also caused a lack of oxygen, leading to the fish deaths."
Many other farms on the river have also reported mass fish deaths over the past few days.
Vice chairman of Ea Na Commune People's Committee, Nay H’Uy, said that local authorities had been informed about the mass fish deaths on the Srepok River and have sent environmental workers to help farmers collect the dead fish while investigating the causes.
"There are nearly 20 fish farms on the river section of about five kilometres in Ea Na and Buon Choa communes," she said. "Initial investigations showed that the water had a phosphate content 2.5 times higher than normal and a large amount of toxic algae, which are unsafe for fish development.
The Krong Ana District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised people to move their cages to areas with better flows to ensure the proper development of the fish. Farmers have also been warned to watch out for unfavourable weather conditions including hot weather and heavy rains to take measures to protect their fish.
