Checking the phenomenon of dead fish at Ke Go hydropower plant

Grass carp drifting along the water discharge of Ke Go Lake was killed by a hydroelectric turbine and was pulled ashore by locals on May 31, 2025.

On June 4, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province issued Document No. 3632/UBND-KT2 assigning the Department of Industry and Trade to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the People's Committee of Cam Xuyen district, Ke Go Hydropower Joint Stock Company, Nam Ha Tinh Irrigation Company Limited and relevant agencies to urgently inspect the actual situation, damage, and cause of the fish deaths due to being caught in the turbines of Ke Go Hydropower Plant (Cam Xuyen district); promptly report the results and solutions to the Provincial People's Committee for further direction and handling according to regulations.

The amount of silver carp that drifted down the drain of Ke Go Lake and was killed by the hydroelectric turbine was picked up by locals and posted on social media, May 31, 2025.

On the same day, speaking to SGGP Newspaper reporter, Mr. Tran Duy Chien, Chairman of the Board of Members of Nam Ha Tinh Irrigation Company Limited, said that on May 29, the company started to irrigate through Ke Go sluice to provide irrigation water for the summer-autumn crop in 2025. From June 1, dead fish were seen floating downstream of the water intake sluice (at the beginning of the main canal), many of which had their heads and tails cut off. The main fish species were silver carp weighing 1-2kg/fish. After discovering the dead fish, the company and local people collected and treated them.

Some people go fishing

According to Mr. Tran Duy Chien, the initial assessment of the cause of the dead fish floating downstream of the water intake culvert may be due to the impact of the recent heavy rains from the small flood season, making the lake water cloudy, causing a school of fish to move upstream of the water intake culvert.

When there is water flowing under the irrigation culvert, the school of fish is swept away through the trash screen in front of the culvert, drifts into the culvert body, through the spiral chamber and hits the hydroelectric turbine blades, causing the fish to have their heads and tails cut off, and die and drift towards the back of the culvert. This situation has hardly happened in previous years.

Some people went to watch the fish being caught.

Immediately after discovering the above amount of dead fish, the company's staff and workers and local people collected and treated them. Currently, there are still some dead fish on the canal, the company continues to collect and treat them, and at the same time, spread nets to catch fish on the canal to avoid environmental impacts. The company continues to monitor and spread nets to check whether fish are still flowing through the culvert to take measures to treat them.

A corner of Ke Go Lake

Ke Go Lake project was built around 1976, with a capacity of 345 million cubic meters of water, providing irrigation water for agricultural production in Cam Xuyen, Thach Ha districts and Ha Tinh city.

For many years, the authorities, local authorities and people have released fish many times to restore aquatic resources in Ke Go Lake. Currently, the amount of silver carp in Ke Go Lake is very large, with common weights ranging from 2kg to more than 7kg.

>>> Some pictures of people scooping fish up from the shore and putting them in sacks, May 31: