The cold front that hit southwest coastal shores over the Lunar New Year has resulted in the deaths of massive numbers of farm-bred milk fish in Tainan, Chiayi and Yunlin counties.
Temperatures below 10oC over the past few days have killed an estimated 400,000 adult milk fish and 10 million new-born milk fish.
The Fisheries Administration yesterday reported a loss of NT$117.6 million because of the deaths.
"Because milk fish live in tepid-to-warm water, as soon as the fisheries administration receives a cold front forecast, it sends out warnings to milk-fish breeders to take precautions. But because many farmers put milk fish and clams in the same breeding ponds, these breeding conditions increase the frostbite rate suffered by milk fish," the administration said.
The breeding of clams requires the presence of seaweed in the water for photosynthesis, where the water level is usually around 60cm.
But because of the relatively low levels of water that currently exist at the farms, the water temperature is easily affected by the weather, the administration said.
The agency pointed out that once fish show signs of sluggishness from the cold, farmers tend to remove them and put them on the market.
"Consumers should not worry about the quality of these fish, as long as there is no physical injury and that they remain fresh," the administration said.
It also said that when the supply of milk fish was greater than market demand, farmers sell the surplus to food processing factories, causing the price to drop.
The fisheries administration is currently offering financial assistance to milk-fish farmers to help them get through the crisis.
According to latest weather reports, the cold snap could continue in Chiayi area until this morning. Another cold front is expected to hit the nation on Thursday.
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