Sharp reduction of oxygen is blamed for the death of over 20 tonnes of fish at Binh Ha 1 Dam’s reservoir in the southern province of Binh Phuoc’s Da Kia Commune since Monday.

The dead fish are piled near the reservoir. 

Nguyen Minh Hải, deputy head of the provincial Livestock and Animal Health Division, said on Thursday that there were a lot of reasons leading to the oxygen severe reduction.

They might be an additional of household wastes discharging into the reservoir or climate change’s impacts, he said.

Previously, authorised agencies in Binh Phuoc took samples of dead fish to investigate the cause of the dead fish. The samples were being tested for finding out further causes, he said.

Fish owner Duong Van Cu, who had signed a contract with Binh Phuoc Irrigation Services Co., Ltd to hire the dam’s reservoir to breed fish, said he had seen several dead fish starting Monday night. The situation got worse in the next few days, with tonnes of fish found dead.

Cu said the dead fish were mainly freshwater catfish (Hemibagrus guttatus), weighing some 700gm to 3kg each, that he was harvesting. 

Varieties of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys harmandi) were also found dead in the reservoir.

The initial losses from the fish deaths are estimated at VND1.2 billion (US$52,600).

Cu said he had been breeding the fish in the reservoir for the past 13 years and this was the first instance of fish deaths.

The stink from the dead fish was reportedly bothering some 20 households living near the reservoir.

Ngo Van Duy, a resident in the area, said he and his neighbours helped Cu to take the dead fish out of the reservoir.

“We just wanted to get rid of the stink,” he said.

Local authorities too supported Cu in taking the dead fish from the reservoir to gardens so that they could be composted into fertilisers. — VNS