Hiep Hoa floating fish village worries about slow output and dead fish

Currently, many households raising fish in cages in Hiep Hoa Ward (Bien Hoa City) are worried because of low selling prices, slow output, and periods of heat and heavy rain that risk causing mass fish deaths.

Fish farmers in Hiep Hoa Ward (Bien Hoa City) are worried because the number of dead fish is increasing rapidly. Photo: B.NGUYEN

Since the beginning of the year, fish prices have often been below production costs. Fish farmers have had to bear the loss, and there are many fish that have passed the harvest stage. Many farmers have lost their appetite and sleep because of the fish deaths.

* Anxious about dead fish

According to fish farmers, for nearly a month, fish have stopped eating in fish farms; at times when the water is stagnant or shallow, fish float to the surface and then die sporadically. In the past few days, the death rate of some fish has increased. The death rate mainly occurs in large fish and is concentrated in some farms near the shore, in shallow water or in the middle of the farming area.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Vy, both a trader and a fish farmer in Hiep Hoa Ward, said that over the past 20 days, his fish rafts have begun to show dead fish sporadically throughout the day and the rate of fish deaths has increased each day. In the past few days, his rafts have lost more than 100 kg of fish per day.

Sharing the same concern, fish raft farmer Hoang Van Hong still has about 30 tons of grass carp and common carp waiting to be harvested. He shared: “In recent nights, I have had to stay up almost all night to run the oxygen machine and watch over the fish. In the past few days, my raft has lost 500-600kg of fish per day, mainly large fish. Up to now, my raft has lost more than 1 ton of fish.”

In recent years, during the changing seasons, there have been cases of dead fish in Hiep Hoa floating village, but the number is not large. This year, due to the low price of fish, there are still a large number of unsold fish in the floating villages. Hot weather, heavy rain, wastewater from rivers and streams, and changes in the water environment mean that there is a risk of mass fish deaths. Farmers are very worried because in the past, fish only floated when the water was still or low, but now, even when the water is flowing, the fish float due to lack of oxygen.

Mr. Pham Khac Binh (in Hiep Hoa raft village) said that the grass carp in his raft are 4-5kg/fish, currently traders buy them for 70,000 VND/kg, but the fish suffocate and die, and can only be sold for 20-30,000 VND/kg. However, he often throws them away because the fish die one by one, and his family is short of people. Currently, his raft runs an oxygen pump continuously to limit fish deaths.

After a survey of fish deaths in the Hiep Hoa fish farming area, the Director of Dong Nai Fisheries Department Chau Thanh An announced that the results of a quick on-site water sample test showed that the dissolved oxygen content of surface water in the fish farming rafts and areas outside the rafts was much lower than the permitted standard level. Mr. An recommended that to limit fish deaths, fish farmers need to equip and increase aeration to increase the dissolved oxygen content in the water, especially at the time of low tide, paying attention to evenly arranging the aerators and the intensity of aeration. Level the fish rafts to reduce the density of fish in the rafts.

* The farmer has to bear the loss

Before the transitional season, fish farmers often proactively harvest mature fish to limit the risk of fish death. However, since the Lunar New Year 2023 until now, the consumption market has been slow, so most of the fish farms in Hiep Hoa Ward have fallen into a situation where over-aged fish cannot be harvested even though they are being sold below production cost.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Van (a fish raft farmer in Hiep Hoa Ward) currently has about 30 tons of grass carp and common carp that are past harvest age. He is worried: “When the market is good, I call traders to buy immediately, but now I have to wait for a month. Each time, traders only buy a little bit, not all of them like before. I am worried because the fish are past their prime, the more I raise them, the more I lose, especially in the current situation where there is a risk of losing everything due to fish dying.”

Mr. Nguyen Hong Vy added that his family is raising 30 fish cages with a harvest yield of 5-7 tons/cage. He currently has about 50 tons of large carp and grass carp that need to be harvested, but he is forced to continue storing them on the raft because he has to prioritize buying fish for households that have been raising fish for him for a long time. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he bought an average of 4-5 tons of fish/day, but after the pandemic, he only bought more than 1 ton of fish/day because the market consumption was slow. Currently, there are many freshwater fish sources from the Southwest region exported to the market, making it even more difficult to compete for output.

Currently, the fish farming area in Hiep Hoa Ward still has more than 1 thousand tons of fish, of which large fish are left behind. People raising fish in rafts are in a state of anxiety because of the risk of mass fish deaths that may occur when the water environment changes.

Some fish farmers in Hiep Hoa Ward are using dead fish to cook fish food or throwing them directly into the environment, increasing the risk of local pollution. According to the Dong Nai Fisheries Department, farmers need to collect dead fish ashore, treat lime powder, clean up trash, and clean cage nets to protect the environment and limit disease and fish deaths.

Binh Nguyen

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