Many fish die, people worried
On April 29, the People's Committee of Tan Thanh ward, Ca Mau province held a people's meeting to deploy a plan to support people affected by suspected impacts from the Ca Mau Airport expansion project.
At the meeting, many households brought dead fish to reflect on the extent of damage, hoping the authorities would consider and resolve it.
Mr. Dang Van Nam said that his family suffered about 60% damage to the output of goby fish and eel. "Fishes have been dying for a long time, now checking it is difficult to determine the full extent of damage," Mr. Nam said.
Ms. Huynh Thi Le brought dried eels and dead goby fish to the people's meeting location. According to Ms. Le, her family invested nearly 2 billion VND, but fish died en masse on an area of about 2 hectares. "If we are not supported in time, we do not know what to use to re-produce," Ms. Le proposed.
Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang - Vice Chairman of Tan Thanh Ward People's Committee - said that on May 4, local authorities and related units will go to each household to inspect the reality and record damage to propose solutions.
Representatives of the Ca Mau Provincial Sub-Department of Environmental Protection said that they have taken water samples for testing, initially recording quite high salinity, and are continuing to compare to have an official conclusion.
Prolonged heat, widespread shrimp and crab deaths
In other developments, prolonged heat has caused heavy damage to many shrimp and crab farming areas in Ca Mau.
Mr. Huu Minh Ut's 2ha black tiger shrimp pond (Tan Loc commune) died about half when it was only 70 days old. According to farmers, the pond water evaporates quickly, the environment changes suddenly, causing shrimp to weaken and then die widely.
In Dat Moi commune, Mr. Dang An Hung said that crabs raised in shrimp ponds of more than 4ha died sporadically and then spread widely, currently almost completely lost, losing tens of millions of dong.
According to specialized sectors, from the beginning of the year to now, the whole province has had more than 1,300ha of aquaculture damaged, mostly over 70%. In which, industrial and semi-industrial shrimp farming damaged nearly 247ha; traditional shrimp farming nearly 97ha; crab more than 390ha.
Functional sectors have implemented epidemic prevention and control plans, guided the handling of farming ponds, improved the environment and recommended people to adjust farming schedules to reduce risks.
