Farmer loses RM1mil as 40 tonnes of prawns are found dead

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At daybreak, the prawns were jumping over the water surface and just hours later, they were dead. “I suspect they were poisoned. Someone wants me to go bankrupt. . .Beh Meng Song

PRAWN breeder Beh Meng Song will never forget the sight of millions of prawns floating at his 12 ponds off Jalan Matang near Kuala Sepetang.

Beh, who lost close to RM1mil overnight, said he had not been able to sleep since last Friday after his prawns mysteriously died.

“Little did I know that it was going to be the beginning of a nightmare when my dogs, which I keep there, started barking incessantly at around midnight.

“At daybreak, the prawns were jumping over the water surface and just hours later, they were dead.

“I suspect they were poisoned. Someone wants me to go bankrupt,” he related to MetroPerak.

The 40 tonnes of prawns, Beh said, were supposed to have been harvested next month in time for Chinese New Year next year.

Beh, who has been rearing prawns for the past 18 years, said it was the first time such an incident had happened to him.

“I do not think it is the work of villagers living in the vicinity.

Huge loss: A worker showing dead prawns at one of the affected ponds

Gone: Beh scooping the dead prawns.

“My workers recovered empty plastic containers with traces of chemicals used to disinfect fish or prawn breeding ponds at seven of my 12 ponds.

“The culprits involved know the business well,” he explained, adding that he had reported the incident to the police.

Beh added that he was counting on his harvest of red tilapia from four other ponds to recover his losses.

“In the meantime, we are going to clean up the ponds to rid them of the chemicals and introduce new prawn fry.

“But the soil from the affected ponds must first be tested to determine if it is safe to commence operations,” he said.