Authorities are investigating the incident as they work to quickly remove the dead fish.
Dong Nai:
Hundreds of thousands of fish have died in a reservoir in Vietnam’s southern Dong Nai province, with reports from residents and media suggesting a brutal heatwave and management of the lake are to blame.
Like much of Southeast Asia – where schools were recently forced to close early and electricity consumption increased – southern and central Vietnam were ravaged by devastating heat.
“All the fish in the Song May reservoir died due to lack of water,” a resident of Trang Bom district, who gave his name only as Nghia, told AFP.
“Our lives have been turned upside down in the last 10 days because of the smell.”
Images show residents boating across the 300-hectare Song May Reservoir, the water barely visible beneath a blanket of dead marine life.
According to media reports, the area hasn’t had rain in weeks and the water in the reservoir is too low for the creatures to survive.
Reservoir management had already discharged water to try to save crops downstream, Nghia said.
“They then tried to renovate the reservoir, bringing in a pump to remove the mud so that the fish would have more space and water,” he said.
However, the efforts did not work, and shortly afterwards many of the fish died, with local media reports suggesting that around two hundred tonnes may have died.
The Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that the company responsible for managing the lake began dredging in early 2024, initially planning to release extra water into the reservoir for fish.
“But due to a relentless heat wave, the investor released water into the downstream area, causing the water level to drop. As a result, the fish died en masse,” the newspaper reported.
The reservoir is the source of water for crops in Trang Bom and Vinh Cuu districts of Dong Nai province.
Authorities are investigating the incident as they work to quickly remove the dead fish.
“We hope the authorities will do their best to improve the situation,” Nghia said.
Southeast Asian Roasts
According to meteorologists, temperatures in Dong Nai province, 100 kilometers west of Ho Chi Minh City, reached around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in April, breaking the temperature record set in 1998.
Rising temperatures are also affecting neighboring Cambodia, where the maximum can reach 43 degrees of mercury.
On Wednesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered schools to consider closing to protect teachers and students from the heat and put authorities on standby in case of water shortages.
This is followed by the Education Minister on Tuesday ordering establishments to shorten morning classes and delay afternoon classes, in an attempt to avoid the worst of the midday heat.
Hang Chuon Naron said the measures aim to “prevent risks and avoid diseases that could harm the health” of students and teachers.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, electricity use hit new records on Tuesday when temperatures in the northeastern province of Udon Thani surpassed 44C.
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