Fish have died en masse in farming cages in the central Thua Thien Hue Province, causing distress to farmers who fear they have lost all the money they invested.

The dead fish were found floating in the water in farming cages in Hai Duong Commune in Huong Tra Town on Thursday morning.

Local farmer Ha Van Truong said he had lost 400kg of high-quality fish such as American red snapper and grouper overnight.

He said each kilo of fish cost VNĐ450,000 (US$20)on average, but they now had to be sold at VNĐ70,000.

Farmer Nguyen Thi Xuan said about 250kg of her family’s fish died at about 2am.

We have to collect the dead fish and sell them immediately to get as much money as we can,” she said.

Head of Hai Duong Commune’s economic and infrastructure section Le Van Anh said the cause of the fish deaths might be related to the weather, as initial test results showed the oxygen level in the water in the area was just one-fourth of normal conditions.

“This is probably the reason,” he said.

The authority would conduct further tests and investigations to identify the cause of the deaths and seek a solution to mitigate the consequences, he said.

It is the second time this year that fish have died en masse in this region. Seventy 70 farming cages were affected by fish deaths in May.

VNS