On October 10, the People's Committee of Ia Mo commune (Chu Prong district, Gia Lai province) said that the unit is coordinating with functional agencies to investigate the cause of mass fish deaths in cages raised by fishermen in Ia Mo irrigation lake.
Ia Mo irrigation lake has a capacity of over 170.8 million m3 of water. This is one of the largest irrigation lakes in the Central Highlands.
Previously, fishermen discovered that fish raised in many cages were lethargic and floating with their white bellies on the water surface.
After that, catfish, perch and some other fish died in large numbers. Worried, fishermen stayed up all night, dragging cages to the deep water in the middle of the lake in the hope of saving the fish from dying. However, the fish still died, their bellies exposed in large numbers. This incident made the fishermen feel heartbroken and shed tears.
According to initial statistics, about 4 cages of households raising fish on Ia Mo irrigation lake died. Of these, catfish - a type of fish with high economic value - died the most.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Luan (residing in Kla village, Ia Mo commune) said: “My family is raising 2 cages of catfish (large ones weighing nearly 2kg) and 1 cage of snakehead fish. It is estimated that about 2 tons of fish in the cage died, causing a loss of nearly 200 million VND”.
Mr. Luan's family is in difficult circumstances, so they came to Ia Mo irrigation lake to do cage fish farming. This is the first time his family has encountered this phenomenon of dead fish. The family hopes that the authorities will soon investigate the cause and have a plan to support the damage.
Most of the fishermen who live year-round on the lake come from the western provinces. They migrated to Chu Prong district, living on the river, fishing and raising fish in cages.
Ia Mo Commune People's Committee and authorities are investigating the cause of the incident.
