Hundreds Of Tons Of Fish In Lake Maninjau Die, Losses Reaching IDR 18.24 Billion

Carcass of dead fish in Lake Maninjau, Agam Regency. (Between)

AGAM - The Department of Fisheries and Food Security of Agam Regency, West Sumatra, stated that losses due to large numbers of dead fish in Lake Maninjau, Tanjungraya District, reached IDR 18.24 billion.

"The loss came from 912 tons of tilapia and carp that died suddenly for IDR 20,000 per kilogram at the cage farmer level", said Head of the Agam Fisheries and Food Security Agency, Rosva Deswira, in Lubukbasung, Antara on Wednesday, December 22.

The dead fish are ready to harvest in hundreds of floating net cages. Some farmers, he added, have harvested early so they don't suffer losses.

"There are some farmers who harvest when the fish around the floating net cages have died", she said.

She added that the 912 tons of dead fish were spread over four villages namely, Nagari Tanjung Sani with 400 tons, Nagari Koto Kaciak 300 tons, Nagari Koto Malintang with 12 tons, Nagari Koto Gadang Anam Koto 200 tons.

The fish died from lack of oxygen after strong winds accompanied by heavy rainfall hit the area. With this condition, the oxygen in the waters of the volcanic lake is reduced, so the fish become dizzy and die.

"The death of this 912-ton fish occurred from December 6 to 21, 2021", she said.

He admitted that there were still 17,000 plots of floating net cages in Lake Maninjau. Currently, about 70 percent of floating net cages are filled with fish seeds by farmers. One cage plot is filled with about 500 kilograms to one ton of fish seeds.