Since the beginning of September, more than 9,000 tanks of farmed fish have been found floating dead at the surface of a river in China’s southeast Fujian Province, state media reported.
The massive fish die-off occurred in a section of the Min River in Fujian’s Gutian County and economic losses are tabbed to be at 240 million Yuan (US$37.6 million), according to Xinhua.
"So many [fish] died, and every one of us is bankrupt now," Mr. Yan, a local fish farmer, told NTD Television, referring to his fellow farmers.
"It’s strange. This year has seen so many dead fish, and the air stinks," he said.
The farmed fish have died of unknown reasons last year and the year before, Mr. Yan said. The previous die-offs have been investigated, but a cause has not yet been found.
The Min River in Fujian is the province’s main waterway and is considered Fujian’s "mother river."
On Sunday, Sept. 4, thousands of villagers blocked the nearby National Highway 316 to protest local factories polluting the river, which many suspected to be a cause of the fish deaths and contaminated drinking water, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.
Demonstrators shouted slogans and held up the banners to call on Fujian Party Secretary Sun Chunlan to act.
