Scene at the conference (Photo: VNA)
Thua
Thien-Hue (VNA) – A conference took place in the central province of
Thua Thien – Hue on August 31 to discuss the protection and resilience of the marine
ecosystem in the waters in the four central regions that suffered from mass
fish deaths last year.
Mass
fish deaths, caused by wastewater discharged by Taiwan’s Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha
Tinh steel company, were first reported in Ha Tinh on April 6, 2016. The
incident also occurred in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.
As
a result, more than 200 kilometres of coastline were polluted, devastating the
marine environment and local economies of those provinces, which largely rely
on fishing and tourism.
According
to a report from the Research Institute for Marine Fisheries, after the
incident, aquatic resources in the waters have declined significantly and been experiencing
structural fluctuations. Species living on, in, or near the seabed and coral
reef systems have been degraded with little recovery. Fishing in these areas
has been resumed but is yet stable.
At
the function, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam
pointed to a number of measures, including replanting coral reefs, building
artificial ecology to provide shelters for sea creatures, and closely
monitoring recovery capacity of the ecosystem.
Nguyen
Van Huan, Vice Director of the Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development, said annual release of fry and fishing ban in the breeding season
are necessary, alongside the control of illegal fishing methods and development
of funds for marine protection and rehabilitation.
The
same day, over 30,000 young shrimps were released at the Thuan An fishing port
in Thua Thien – Hue’s Phu Vang district.-VNA