Dead fish weighing an estimated 10 tonnes covered the sand of a 10-kilometre stretch of beach from Klai Kangwon Royal Palace to Kao Takiab in Hua Hin, officials said.
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Hua Hin hit by deluge of rotten fish after rains
Chaiwat Satyaem
Villagers and tourists in the seaside town of Hua Hin were assaulted by the smell of rotten fish yesterday morning after hundreds of thousands of specimens died on a 10-kilometre stretch of beach there following torrential rains on Monday.
Dead fish weighing an estimated 10 tonnes covered the sand from Klai Kangwon Royal Palace to Kao Takiab, officials said. The beach is a famous site where hotels and high rent residents locate.
The rain caused floodwater, soil and waste to flow out to sea, which officials said altered the chemical composition of the seawater in a way that blocked photosynthesis and depleted the amount of oxygen in the water.
It is the second time this year that fish have died en masse in the province in the wake of deluges running out to sea, they said.
Yet locals were undaunted, with some even capitalising on the phenomenon.
Villagers could be seen taking some fish home to eat yesterday while middlemen bought smaller specimens to sell at a nearby factory producing animal feedstock. Most of dead fish were juveniles. However, there were also small shrimps and other aquatic animals such as mussels.
Fisherman also combed the beach looking for pla sai, or sandfish. Most were too rotten to be consumed but edible specimens were fetching upwards of 100 baht per kilogramme at a local market in the early afternoon.
The beach was so littered with dead fish that local authorities needed to deploy 100 staff to collect them, according to Jeeraway Prapmanee, assistant district officer of Muang Hua Hin.
