QUẢNG BÌNH — The dumping of 606 tonnes of contaminated fish is continuing in Quảng Bình Province, in an attempt to destroy the large quantities of unsold frozen fish in four central provinces affected by Formosa’s toxic spill.

The fish were harvested in the ocean near Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên - Huế provinces after the toxic spill in April, and remained in freezers due to their being unsold.

The work to destroy the contaminated fish began last Saturday and is expected to be completed on Wednesday.

Following governmental instructions, Quảng Bình authorities conducted tests on samples taken from 29 freezing facilities around the province. One-fifth of the stored fish, or 606 tonnes of frozen fish, proved to be contaminated with cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, phenol and cyanide.

The contaminated species include tuna, shrimp, squid and gazami crab.

Phan Xuân Hào, director of the province’s Department of Environment Protection, said the staff have brought the fish from the facilities to the dumping site to be used as landfill.

Due to the low sales of seafood after the environmental disaster caused by Formosa, the province has some 4,000 tonnes of frozen fish sitting unsold in freezers.

Earlier, Quảng Trị had dumped 70 tonnes of Formosa-contaminated fish.

In Hà Tĩnh, there are 2,000 tonnes of fish stored in 42 freezer warehouses. Hà Tĩnh authorities are conducting tests on the frozen fish to determine how to properly destroy them later.

According to Hà Tĩnh’s department of industry and trade, a 100 per cent subsidy will be provided for those fish found to have been contaminated, while a 30 per cent subsidy rate will be applied to uncontaminated fish that needed to be destroyed. — VNS