Some fish farms deemed illegal were relocated: Provincial authorities collected tons of plastic buoys and bamboo rafts. For years, the Vietnamese government has welcomed tourists to the bay, but it is this sector that causes the most damage to the environment.
Hanoi () – The authorities of Quang Ninh province are rushing to collect thousands of polystyrene buoys that were left in Ha Long and Bai Tu Long bays by a series of fish farms that the government closed in recent days . Fishing in both bays was banned five years ago to make way for tourist cruises, which have an equal (or worse) impact on the environment.
Cao Tuong Huy, acting president of the province bordering China to the north, explained that the cities of Ha Long and Cam Pha, which manage the two bays, currently have no plans to deal with the Styrofoam waste left in the water. after the relocation of the fishing families, but they are obliged to collect all the waste before April 28.
Fish farms became illegal in 2018 after a government ban was publicized that only fishing activities authorized by the government or for tourism purposes would be allowed, particularly to protect the biodiversity of heritage-listed Ha Long Bay. of Unesco in 1994. Violators are punished with the confiscation and destruction of fishing equipment.
According to local government reports, Ha Long City has so far collected 2,500 cubic meters of polystyrene and 50 pieces of bamboo rafts, while Cam Pha has collected more than 250,000 buoys and more than 1,000 pieces of bamboo rafts.
The entire province of Quang Ninh has 250 km of coastline, but according to the local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, “illegal” farms occupy 970 hectares of sea.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 6 million tourists visited Ha Long Bay’s 2,000 karst islets each year, also called the “jewels of the dragon” for their aesthetic and geomorphological value.
According to local residents, the fishing fauna began to decline over the years due to household waste and pollution from mass tourism in the bay. The concentration of toxic substances has been increasing along with the production of plastic waste. According to data from 2020, Ha Long generates 8,283 tons of plastic per year, of which more than 5,000 are dumped into the sea. Tourism generates 34 tons of waste per day. The Vietnamese government first proposed relocating the fishing villages inland and then banned fishing. The UN has also tried to intervene with various awareness projects to try to reduce the plastic generated by tourism.
