Loss Of Dead Fish In Lake Maninjau, West Sumatra, Reaches IDR 35.28 Billion

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

AGAM - Farmers of floating net cages (KJA) in Lake Maninjau, Agam Regency, West Sumatra suffered losses of around IDR 35.28 billion due to the mass death of 1,764 tons of fish from January to December 2021.

Head of the Agam Fisheries and Food Security Agency, Rosva Deswira, said the loss was IDR 35.28 billion from the mass death of 1,764 tons of fish and the price of fish at the farm level of IDR 20,000 per kilogram.

"The fish belong to hundreds of farmers in floating net cages in Lake Maninjau Lake", she said, quoted by Antara on Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Rosva said the 1,764 tonnes of fish died in three stages. The first phase in January 2021 is 15 tons.

While the second stage in Mai 2021 is 44 tons and the third stage in December 2021 is 1,705 tons.

"Most of the fish deaths occurred in the period of December 2021, spread across all Nagari or villages in the area", she said.

Rosva said the death of this fish was due to high rainfall accompanied by strong winds that hit the area, resulting in a reversal of the bottom water to the surface of the lake. As a result, the oxygen in Lake Maninjau is reduced and the fish become dizzy and die.

Minutes after that, he added, the dead fish floated to the surface of the lake. "The lake water is polluted because some farmers throw fish carcasses into the lake", she said.

Previously, her party had appealed to farmers not to sow fish seeds from September to January, because the risk of death was quite high at that time.

However, farmers did not heed the appeal and continued to spread fish seeds.