Fish farms from two counties in the lower reaches of a cadmium-contaminated river in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have been banned from selling their fish, local authorities confirmed Thursday.

Fishermen from the Liujiang and Liucheng counties of Liuzhou city have been prohibited from selling farmed and wild fish from the Longjiang River, where the spill occurred, according to a ruling by the Liuzhou municipal fishery, animal husbandry and veterinary bureau on Tuesday.

The two counties are located in the downstream of the Longjiang River, right before it joins the Liujiang River, which runs through Liuzhou city.

The contamination was first detected on Jan. 15, in the upstream city of Hechi on the Longjiang River, after local fishermen found their fish dying in large numbers.

"The once-green river turned black around Jan. 10 and many small fish died. In the following days, more fish died, so we reported to the local environmental protection bureau," said Huang Chaoxin, a fisherman living in Lalang township of Hechi.

A similar ban was issued in Hechi on Jan 15. As of Jan. 31, about 10,000 kg of adult fish had died in Hechi alone, according to the center handling the incident.

As the incident was detected just days before the Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 23, both the fishermen's sales and their diet were dealt a heavy blow.

"We used to eat a lot of fish around the Spring Festival, but not this time. And more fish died everyday, so I was not really in the mood to celebrate the festival," Huang said.

Compensation will be made to compensate fishermen for their lost sales.

The losses will be evaluated and the companies responsible for the incident will compensate the fishermen, said Qin Bin, deputy secretary of the Hechi municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.