The Wetlands Alliance Programme has helped not only protect marine
resources but also raise local people’s awareness of the issue, and
created more on-the-spot jobs after five years of implementation in the
southern province of Kien Giang.
The programme has
been underway in Ham Ninh and Bai Thom communes on Phu Quoc
Island – home to 11,000 hectares of sea grass – since 2008. It has
created four spawning grounds for valuable aquatic species.
Under the programme, a spawning green crab bank was set up in Bai Bon
village, Ham Ninh commune in 2011. Every time local fishermen catch
crabs carrying eggs, they will deposit them into the bank. They will
receive back the crabs to sell after the crabs lay egg. The bank also
provides loans worth 3 million VND to participants, allowing them to pay
an interest rate of five spawning green crabs each month.
A fishing management model was also established in the two communes
with voluntary groups to protect aquatic resources, natural marine
hatchery grounds and the local sea grass system.
In the coming time, the programme will open two or three more crab banks.-VNA