January 12, 2007

Vietnam fish farmers baffled over fish deaths

Tra breeders in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta are mystified over the growing number of dead fish found on their fishponds.

Farmers in Hong Ngu district in Dong Thap province are puzzled over the fishes' death, saying they have never encountered this phenomenon previously.

Le Van Liet, in My Hoa Hung town in Long Xuyen City, said that seven out of his nine fish ponds have been affected with diseases. He already spent VND100million or more than US$6,000 on medicine but 400,000 of his fish still died.

Chiem Han Phu, a tra breeder in Phu Tan district in An Giang province, complained that 2,000 of his fish (0.5 kilogramme per unit) had died. Other ponds in the same area have also reported that 70 percent of their cultured fish have died.

According to Bui Huu Tri, a farmer in Can Tho, the rising percentage of dead fish has become alarming. The average dead fish proportion is 30 to 40 percent, and in some other ponds, the proportion is 70 percent. Tri said that the fish diseases may spread to other localities.

Pham Van Dan, Chairman of the An Giang Seafood Farming and Processing Association, also said that in the province, the ratio of fish infected with diseases is 10 percent higher than the same period last year.

Fishery officials are yet to investigate on the incident.