Vietnamese sugar plant pays damages to fish farmers after causing mass fish deaths

May 16, 2016 | 09:18

(0) user say

A sugar producer based in northern Vietnam has compensated fish cage farmers in a north-central province for causing their fish to die en masse by dumping untreated water into a river flowing through their farms, a local official said.

The Hoa Binh sugar facility in Hoa Binh Province has said that it will pay over VND1.4 billion (US$62,734) as compensation to those households whose fish farms on the Buoi River had been damaged by the contamination brought about by the firm’s wastewater.

Bui Thi Muoi, Party Committee Secretary of Thach Thanh District, Thanh Hoa Province, confirmed on Thursday that the Hoa Binh sugar facility had dispatched representatives to pay VND80,000 ($3.58) per kilo as compensation to 15 affected households in Thanh Vinh Commune.

Muoi also said that the Thach Thanh People’s Committee had supported 34 households running floating fish cages with VND2 million ($89.62) and 20 kilos of rice per family.

From March 15 to April 25, the sugar facility, located in the Lac Son industrial complex in Lac Son District, dumped 250-300 cubic meters of untreated water directly into the river a day, which heavily contaminated the water current, according to official reports.

The mass deaths hit fish farms in as many as 15 communes in Thach Thanh and Lac Son Districts, whereas wild fish and shrimp in the river also died in large numbers, according to a report submitted to the provincial administration.

Seventeen metric tons of fish, raised in 71 floating fish cages of 32 households in Thach Thanh died due to the water pollution. In Thanh Vinh alone, there were ten metric tons of dead fish found from 28 affected farms, the report said.

Local authorities then checked the wastewater discharge system of the plants along the river to determine the cause of the fish deaths.

They later found that the Hoa Binh sugar factory had discharged untreated water directly into the river.

The facility operator admitted on May 7 that they release some 300 cubic meters of wastewater into the Buoi River on an annual basis.

RELATED CONTENTS:
	Local tourism authorities urged to ensure food safety for visitors
	Vietnamese farmers file lawsuit against businesses after fish die in wastewater
	Inspection team finds no layers of dead fish underwater
	Report on mass fish deaths finally published this week
	Vietnam's Da Nang organizes seafood festival to support fishermen
	Foreign scientists help Vietnam unravel mass fish deaths