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ens of thousands of fish in fishing cages in the Kedungombo Resevoir in Sumberlawang, Sragen, Central Java, have died in the past two days, apparently due to extreme weather.

Fisherman Daryono Gundul confirmed that 15 to 25 tons of fish died in the past few days, leaving the fishermen with millions of rupiah in financial losses.

“Each fisherman may have suffered [losses of] millions of rupiah depending on the differences in the number of dead fish,” he added.

He said the Mitra Tani cooperative suffered the biggest financial loss as its operator was late to pull out the fishing cage.

Ngargotirto village head Daryono said the significant loss of fish in Kedungombo was an annual phenomenon. Strong wind disturbed the water, making the sediment in the bottom of the reservoir rise, thus poisoning the fish, he added.

“The muddy water means a lack of oxygen for the fish. They will also get poisoned by food residue from the sediment,” Daryono said.

He said some fish farmers managed to save their fish by pulling their cages out of the water in time.

At least 500 fish cages had been pulled out of the water. Other fish farmers used air pumps to circulate oxygen into the water to help the fish survive the poisoning.

“The moment I saw numerous dead fish, I immediately pulled out the fish cages to prevent any more from dying,” he said.