Dozens of fish cages in Xiangyang are overgrown with weeds.

(Baonghean.vn) - Dozens of fish cages in Tuong Duong district are overgrown with weeds and damaged, but no one cares. The reason is that people are losing money when raising fish in cages.

The fish cage farming area of ​​Tam Huong village, Tam Quang commune has been almost abandoned after many times of releasing fish without bringing good results. Photo: Ho Phuong

Tuong Duong is one of the mountainous districts with a large water surface area, especially in hydroelectric reservoirs such as Ban Ve, Nam Non, Khe Bo... This is an ideal condition for developing aquaculture.

In recent years, the province and district have had many policies to develop aquaculture, especially cage fish farming on hydroelectric reservoirs. Accordingly, the state has supported fish farming households with 12 million VND/cage (in 2012), 6 million VND/cage (in 2014).

Since the State's support policy, the number of fish cages in Tuong Duong district increased rapidly from 2014 to 2016. Specifically, in 2014, Tuong Duong district had 93 cages, by 2016, the number had increased to 243 fish cages.

The above mentioned fish cage farming households are mainly concentrated in communes near hydroelectric plants such as: Khe Bo, Nam Non, Ban Ve... Of which, Tam Thai commune has 50 cages, Tam Dinh commune has 43 cages, Thach Giam commune has 37 cages...

Many fish cages in the area are damaged and overgrown with grass. Photo: Dao Tho

Although the number of fish cages has increased, the effectiveness of fish cage farming by the people has not been as expected. Mr. Vi Duc Sum - Head of Tam Huong village (Tam Quang commune) said that since the fish cage development project was launched, the whole village has 31 cages, of which 28 cages were built before and supported with 12 million VND/cage, and 3 new cages built in 2016 were supported with 6 million VND/cage. However, up to now, the whole village only has 4 cages for fish farming, of which 1 old cage has been repaired by the people and 3 new cages are being raised.

The family of Mr. Vi Van Binh, residing in Tam Huong village (Tam Quang commune) is one of the households that has invested a lot of effort and money in raising fish in cages. However, after a long time pursuing this new profession, his family has now run out of patience.

Mr. Binh said that his family started raising fish in cages after Khe Bo Hydropower Plant came into operation. At that time (before 2014), his family built 3 cages to raise grass carp and received support of 12 million VND/cage. His family also invested more than 4 million VND in each cage. But after a few months of raising fish, the fish died and floated on the water surface.

Many damaged fish cages in Dinh Thang village, Tam Dinh commune lie abandoned on the banks of Khe Bo hydroelectric reservoir. Photo: Ho Phuong

The same thing happened with other batches, although the authorities came down to check and examine, they could not determine the cause. “There were fish weighing 1-1.2 kg that still died. I did not get a single penny back,” said Mr. Binh. Frustrated, from 2016 until now, Mr. Binh’s family has completely stopped and is no longer interested in raising fish, the 3 fish cages lying abandoned on the lake bed are damaged.

Not only Binh’s family but also more than 15 households raising fish in cages in Tam Huong village have encountered similar situations. Dozens of fish cages of Tam Huong households have been damaged and lie abandoned on the banks of Khe Bo hydroelectric reservoir. Some cages are covered with thick grass and rust, leaving only the bare frame.

Not only Tam Quang commune, many households raising fish in cages in Tam Dinh, Xa Luong, Yen Thang communes also face many difficulties and are no longer interested in raising fish in cages on the lake.

We walked along the Khe Bo hydroelectric reservoir to Dinh Tien village (Tam Dinh). Here, village chief Luong Van Than said that the whole village used to have 14 fish cages, but now there are only 6 cages left belonging to 4 households: Lo Van Khon (1 cage), Luong Van Than (1 cage), Luong Van Tien (2 cages), Luong Van Hoi (2 cages). When asked why the remaining households no longer raise fish, he sadly replied: "The cages are almost all damaged, and people do not want to repair them anymore because they see that the investment is ineffective."

Dinh Thang village (Tam Dinh commune) is one of the villages with a large number of people registering for cage fish farming in Tuong Duong district. In 2015, the whole village had nearly 20 fish cages, but now only 3 cages are still in use, the rest are mostly damaged or abandoned. Mr. Kha Van Tim - Secretary of the Party cell of Dinh Thang village said that cage fish farming requires a lot of money and effort but does not bring much profit, so the villagers are not very interested. Moreover, these fish cages are also old and badly damaged.

A damaged iron cage lies on the shore of the Hydroelectric Reservoir in Tuong Duong District. Photo: Dao Tho.

According to preliminary statistics from the Agricultural Extension Station of Tuong Duong district, by May 2017, the whole district of Tuong Duong had 243 fish cages, however, only about 190 cages were in use. The rest were damaged or washed away by floods.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - Head of the Agricultural Extension Station of Tuong Duong district said that the fish deaths in recent years have caused many difficulties for farmers. The reason is partly due to erratic weather, heavy rains in the upstream bringing with them a lot of dirt, polluting the water environment. Another reason is that the hydroelectric reservoir's bottom is discharged every year, causing mass fish deaths in some areas. "I myself, working as an agricultural extension worker, feel guilty and do not dare to encourage people to expand this practice," Ms. Binh said.

Ho Phuong - Dao Tho