Hundreds of tonnes of fish in Song May Lake in Dong Nai province in Vietnam went belly up, local authorities confirmed on Apr. 29, 2024.

A local man who lived in the district skirting the lake told AFP that all the fish had died due to a lack water.

Little water, no space

The lack of water is reportedly caused by two reasons: Poor management and extreme heatwave.

Vietnam, like many parts of Southeast Asia, is currently being battered by extreme heat.

Schools in some Southeast Asian countries have either amended their hours or closed and switched to online classes entirely.

The southern Vietnam Dong Nai province, where Song May Lake is located, has not been spared from the heat, recording the highest temperature since 1998 of around 40°C in April 2024.

Quoting other media, AFP reported that that area has also not seen rain for weeks.

As a result, the water level in Song May Lake has dipped and there is too little space for the fish inhabiting it to survive.

200 tonnes worth of dead fish

Vietnamese daily Tuoi Tre reported that the firm in charge of managing the lake, Dong Nai Irrigational Works Exploitation Company, had begun dredging — removing the silt and mud — in January 2024 so that the fish would have more space and water.

The firm also had plans to release extra water into the lake, but instead released water downstream, where there were crops, resulting in the lake's water level to recede.

However, none of this worked out and the fish began dying en masse.

The Saigon Times reported that as many as two hundred tonnes' worth of fish have perished.

Pictures showed residents forging their way through the mass of dead fish obscuring the lake.

Cận cảnh hồ Sông Mây cạn nước, cá nổi trắng xóa mặt hồ

Theo ghi nhận, do nắng nóng kéo dài, hồ Sông Mây hiện nay đã cạn trơ đáy, diện tích mặt nước giảm từ 196ha hiện chỉ còn khoảng 2ha. Độ sâu mực nước thấp (nơi sâu nhất chỉ khoảng 1m nước), số… pic.twitter.com/EWpo7SJkkT

— peony (@trangngoc9224) April 30, 2024

Residents complain about odour

Authorities are investigating the incident while working to quickly remove the dead fish.

But disposal efforts have not been fast enough and residents have complained about having to put up with the odour of decomposing fish for as many as 10 days.

"The smell of dead fish is disgusting, especially on such hot days," one disgruntled resident lamented.

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Top image from DTiNews and Báo Tuổi Trẻ