First came the dead fish, then invasive plants. A year later and Lake Suchitlán’s pollution remains a mystery

Fishers on El Salvador’s largest lake are still looking for answers after the die-off, with no explanation provided by the government From the village of Copapayo, Noel Avalos recalls the morning they ran to the shore of Lake Suchitlán, El Salvador’s main hydroelectric reservoir, also known as Cerrón Grande, and its largest body of freshwater, to find thousands of dead fish had washed up overnight. By August 2025, nearly 70% of the lake’s 135 sq km (33,000 acres) surface was carpeted with an ...

By Words and Photos by Camilo Freedman in San Salvador