On July 12, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province said that the unit had conducted a physical inspection of the phenomenon of abnormal fish deaths on the Hieu River (section passing through Cua Viet commune, Dong Ha ward) and the Thach Han River (section passing through Nam Cua Viet commune).
The inter-sectoral inspection team including representatives of leaders of the Department, Sub-Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance, Sub-Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine, Department of Environmental Management, Center for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring and local authorities directly recorded the reality.
According to initial information, in Cua Viet commune, the river water changed to cloudy, causing cage-raised fish to refuse to eat and die en masse with various types of snakehead fish, giant gourami, red snapper, bowhead fish, brown fish...
In Dong Ha ward, the phenomenon of sardines, brown fish, and natural eels dying scattered in the saltwater dam area was recorded; at the same time, 2 households raising fish in ponds and lakes after taking water from the river also experienced fish deaths.
In Nam Cua Viet commune, the phenomenon of cage and raft fish deaths caused damage to some farming households; some shrimp farming households after pumping river water into ponds also caused abnormal shrimp deaths.
To clarify the cause of the incident, specialized agencies immediately intervened and synchronously deployed many professional measures. Currently, the Center for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring has taken surface water samples in the Cua Viet river mouth area and the section 250 m downstream from Mai Xa bridge, and at the same time continues to survey to take 8 more water samples for water quality analysis. The Sub-Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine has collected 4 fish samples (including fish raised in ponds, caged fish and dead natural fish on rivers) and sent them to specialized agencies for analysis of indicators.
In particular, the Environmental Management Department is assigned the task of presiding over the review and close monitoring of all waste sources discharged into the Hieu River to promptly detect abnormal signs in discharge activities.
It is known that the Sub-Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Control has issued an urgent official dispatch requesting aquaculture households along the Hieu and Thach Han rivers to temporarily stop taking river water into ponds and lakes to protect property.
Informing Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh - Deputy Director of Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Environment - said that the inspection team determined that the phenomenon of fish deaths may be affected by many complex factors, and there is currently no basis to determine or rule out any cause.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment is directing units to focus maximum resources on analyzing samples, soon have official conclusions to report to the Provincial People's Committee and widely inform people" - Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh said.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper reported that from July 4th, people along the Hieu and Thach Han rivers discovered abnormal color streaks in the river water. After that, fish raised in cages on the river stopped eating, wriggled and then died en masse. In Cua Viet commune alone, statistics as of July 10th show that more than 22 tons of fish raised by people died.
Fish deaths first appeared at the headwaters of the Hieu River section passing through Dong Ha ward, then to Cua Viet commune and then to the Thach Han River section passing through Nam Cua Viet commune (the Hieu River flows from Dong Ha ward, mixing with the Thach Han River before flowing into the sea).
