Bloated and foul-smelling, the fish began floating to the surface of Cheung Sha bay two weeks ago - victims of the near-record cold snap.
But the dying had only just begun. And Cheng Siu-wah was powerless to save his stock of tropical fish.
He did the only thing he could - rush as many of them as possible to market before the Lunar New Year holiday and sell them cheap to cut his losses.
Mr Cheng, 52, has lost 60 per cent of his fish - 30 tonnes - to the cold, costing him at least HK$1 million, and possibly twice as much. What's worse, as one of the bigger operators - his fish farm covers 2.8 sq km of the bay off Lantau, and daily operating costs exceed HK$4,000 - he is not eligible for emergency relief from the government.
'This is the greatest loss I have suffered in my life,' said Mr Cheng, who has farmed fish for 30 years. 'It has given me a big headache.'
He is one of 80 fish farmers at Cheung Sha to have suffered losses.
Tropical fish species, such as the cobia, green grouper, giant grouper and red snapper that are farmed at Cheung Sha, cannot survive water temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius. But the water temperature there has fallen as low as 13 degrees.
