Tons of Farm-raised Fish Die of Untreated Water in Vietnam’s Central River

Tens of tons of fish raised in floating cages in along the Buoi River in Vietnam’s north-central province of Thanh Hoa have died as the river was contaminated with untreated water dumped by a local sugar plant, authorities have said. The mass deaths hit fish farms in 15 communes in Thach Thanh and Lac Son districts, whereas wild fish and shrimp in the river also died en masse, according to a report submitted to the provincial administration. Seventeen tons of fish, raised in 71 floating fish cages of 32 households in Thach Thanh district. In the district’s Thanh Vinh commune alone, there were ten tons of dead fish found from 28 affected farms. Farmers had no choice but to destroy the dead fish when harvest time is near. Le Van Ve, who runs two floating fish cages on Buoi River, was about to harvest more than 300 fish, weighing from 2.4 kg to 3 kg, when they all died. Local fish farmers said the aquatic creatures started dying en masse on May 4, from the section of the Buoi River that passes through the Bien village in Thach Lam commune, Thanh Thanh district. Local authorities have checked the wastewater discharge system of plants along the river to look for the cause of the fish deaths. They later found that the Hoa Binh sugar plant had dumped untreated water directly into the river. The facility admitted on May 7 that they had discharged some 300 cubic meters of untreated wastewater into Buoi River annually. The massive deaths of aquatic species have been reported in many places in Vietnam in recent months, especially in rivers and aquatic ponds in Ky Anh district, central province of Ha Tinh and the coastal areas of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces with hundreds of tons of fish found dead. The discharge of a huge volume of toxic waste of the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in Ky Anh into the sea is believed to cause the serious catastrophe. (Tuoi Tre – Youth May 8)