Causes Of 130 Tons Of Dead Fish In Lake Maninjau

Fish carcasses floating on Maninjau Lake. (ANTARA/Yusrizal)

AGAM - Mass fish deaths in Maninjau Lake, Agam Regency, West Sumatra were around 130 tons due to the toxic sulfur phenomenon that hit the area on Friday, February 11. So that oxygen is reduced in the volcanic lake.

One of the farmers in floating net cages at Lake Maninjau, Naziruddin in Lubukbasung, Tuesday, February 15, said that the air around the lake emits a very thick sulfur smell.

"The fish died in December 2021, there was no smell of sulfur in the lake and it was purely due to lack of oxygen after rain and strong winds hit the area," he said, who is also the guardian of Nagari Koto Malintang, as reported by Antara.

He said the fish's death began when very hot weather hit the area on Friday, February 11 afternoon, then suddenly it started to rain with heavy rainfall hitting the area.

After the hot weather followed by heavy rain, the fish in the floating net cages began to float to the surface and some time later the fish died.

"Fish in floating net cages belonging to residents died. My floating net cages are empty," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Agam Fisheries and Food Security Service, Rosva Deswira, added that the death of fish was due to the reversal of water masses and bringing sulfur to the surface.

"The surface of the lake was calm, but suddenly it rained and no strong winds hit the area," she said.

As a result of the incident, around 130 tons of fish died en masse in Rambai Nagari Koto Malintang, 50 tons spread over 76 floating net cage plots belonging to 30 farmers.

After that, in Linggai Nagari Duo Koto, 80 tons were spread over 100 plots of floating net cages owned by 15 farmers.

"Farmers suffered a loss of around IDR 2.6 billion, because the farmer-level price was IDR 20,000 per kilogram," she said.