36 tons of fish killed by pollution in Dong Nai river, VietNam

Pollution in the Dong Nai river has killed 36 tons of fish in Thong Nhat Ward of southern Bien Hoa city, the farmers association said in a report sent to authorities Monday. The association said 33 families practicing fish cage culture had claimed to have lost hundreds of millions of dongs due to the death of their mature freshwater fish, including carp and hemibagrus. Hoang Van Thong, head of the province Environmental Protection Department, said the fishes were killed by the increasing pollution in the Dong Nai River. Thong added that a large amount of untreated wastewater from households and enterprises in the city was discharged into the river.In addition, the number of fish cages in the region has increased up to 800, much higher than the maximum permissible number of 200.

The rapid increase has resulted in a reduction of oxygen concentration in the water. The local authorities have tried to reduce the number of fish cages by way of voluntary relocation. The deadline for the relocation is end of May. A similar event involving the death of a massive number of fishes happened in June 2010. The cause was also attributed to water pollution. (TuoitreNews)

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• Dong Nai River on verge of death @ Saigon GPDaily
• Pollution plagues Dong Nai River @ VietNam News