Fish bred in cages in a lagoon near the ocean in Thua Thien-Hue Province died en masse for still unknown reasons beginning Thursday last week.

This is the second mass fish kill-off in Lap An lagoon near Lang Co Bay in the central province, since the last incident on November 10.

Tran Van Minh, a resident in Lang Co Town, said he lost one-third of his 3,000 fish being raised in 14 cages in the lagoon.

Minh added that the remaining fish appear to be unhealthy.

Duong Dang Trung, the town chairman, said fish kill-offs occurred in almost all 50 breeding farms in the town, with some 700kg of fish having died.

Breeders are facing large losses from the deaths, estimated at VNĐ300 million (US$13,300) at each farm, according to Trung.

Meanwhile, the local division of agriculture and rural development, and the veterinary department, have taken samples from the site for tests.

Mai Van Xi, head of the agriculture division, suspected high rainfalls last week had altered the salt content in the brackish water in the lagoon, causing the fish deaths.

In November, a similar incident happened in the town, resulting in a total of 50 tonnes of dead fish.

Following the impact from the Formosa toxic spill in April, local breeders encountered repeated mass fish deaths, raising fears of bankruptcy among breeders.

A report released by the Thua Thien-Hue Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the locality’s agriculture and aquaculture industries experienced negative growth this year. Total turnover from the sector decreased 1.1 per cent, compared to the figure last year. 

VNS