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Vietnamese State’s officials strive to ease anxiety of the environmental disaster
Vietnamese State’s officials strive to ease anxiety of the environmental disaster
1/9/16
MOST beaches in four
of Vietnam’s central provinces have now been declared safe for swimming and
fish farming, heard a conference held
in Quang Tri Province on August 22 by the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment in cooperation with the Vietnam Academy of Science and
Technology, Quang Tri local officials and the Vietnam National University,
Hanoi.
Professor Mai Trong Nhuan, who headed a
team of Vietnamese and foreign scientists commissioned by the government to
study the impact of the disaster, told that the chemicals, including cyanide
and carbolic acids, are becoming more dilute, chemicals and substances
including phenol and iron are at permissible levels in line with the nation’s
standards QCVN 10-MT 2015/BTNMT. He said the coral reefs are recovering as the
presence of the toxic substance has reduced by 90 percent in samples taken in
July and August.
“Aquatic creatures are
returning and the ecosystem is recovering,” he said at a conference held in
Quang Tri by the environment ministry and the Vietnam Institute for Science and
Technology.
The latest study found
that contamination in most parts of the affected areas were now safe for
swimming, aquaculture and aquatic conservation activities. However, it requires
more time for the Ministry of Health to study and announce whether seafood
caught in the waters off the provinces are safe for eating or not.
Test results between late April and
August by the Ministry of Health showed that pollutant concentrations in
seafood of the four central provinces dropped steadily. Nhuan said the
ministries of health and agriculture-rural development would monitor the
quality of seafood caught in safe waters informed by the agriculture ministry.
Trinh Van Tuyen, director of the
Institute of Environmental Technology, told the conference that before the
cause of mass fish deaths was brought to light, the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment had collected seawater samples in Ha Tinh, Quang
Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and some other localities for testing. After
the cause was clarified, the research was scaled down and focused on the four
central provinces. He noted the study method was adjusted and modern equipment
was used.
Tuyen said results showed that seawater
quality has improved and pollutant concentrations are now below the allowable
levels at present. Most of the toxic substances have fallen significantly
but further monitoring is still needed, he said. Tuyen proposed keeping a
close watch on the Formosa steel complex in Ha Tinh Province to prevent a
repeat. He suggested the environment ministry to set up automatic systems in
the provinces to check seawater.
The information is important as it
helps people know about the safety level of seawater in Ha Tinh, Quang Tri,
Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, Minister of Natural Resources and
Environment Tran Hong Ha told the conference held to announce scientific
reports after over 100 tons of fish were found dead along the shores of the
provinces in April.
Earlier, the Vietnam unit of Taiwan’s
Formosa Plastics Group admitted responsibility for the mass fish deaths and
agreed to pay over US$500 million in compensation. The reasons and culprit of
the most severe environmental incident in Vietnam were made public but
Vietnamese have since been concerned about the safety of seawater and seafood
in the provinces. The incident has strongly hurt economic growth and the
livelihoods of many local people. This worst environmental disaster has
devastated the fishing and tourism industries in the region.
The government said in a report to the
National Assembly in July that the disaster harmed the livelihoods of more than
200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen. An estimated 115 tonnes of fish
washed ashore along more than 200km of the central coast in April, the report
said. The pollution sparked rare protests across the country. Formosa
Plastics’s US$10.6 billion steel complex in Ha Tinh province includes a steel
plant, a power plant and a deep sea port, and is one of the largest foreign
investments in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Hung, Party
chief of Quang Tri Province, said documents released at the conference would
help the locality and the other three provinces draw up plans to support people
and their production.
One
positive sign is that Vietnamese officials have pioneered in taking exemplary
actions to assert that swimming and seafood are safe amid growing concern over
the death since early April of large numbers of fish along the central
coast. People can see on media a lot of photographs showed leaders,
such as Danang’s Party secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh and chairman Huynh Duc Tho in
the water at My Khe beach on May 1, or recently Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong
Ha swam in Quang Tri beach. They were also seen eating fish during their field
trip.
As part of their concerted effort to
help local fishermen who have been hit by mass fish deaths and woo scared
tourists to beaches. The move of the leaders aims to convince consumers that
seafood caught offshore is safe.
It
is understandable that consumers are afraid of eating fish because they fear
they might eat the dead fish washed ashore. What they have done deserves
commending and enhancing. People should consider not to worry about the
disaster, researches and tests showed the quality of water samples collected at
beaches in the north-central province is now at safe levels. It is now time to
recover our tourism sector and economy and help our fellow fishermen./.
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All comments [ 10 ]
After the cause was clarified, the research was scaled down and focused on the four central provinces. The study method was adjusted and modern equipment was used.
Formosa also promised to improve its technology to guarantee that the wastewater it produces has been fully treated before being released into the environment.
It's a happy information for all of us, let go beaches!
Marine life, including sea water and sea-bed sediment, is generally within Vietnamese safety standards for aquaculture farming, fishing, and tourism activities.
According to the Health Ministry, levels of chemical residue found in seafood caught along the coastline of the four affected provinces have gradually fallen.
Harmful chemicals in the sea water seem to have dissipated, but some pollutants such as phenol remain at relatively high concentrations, said Trinh Van Tuyen, the director of the Institute of Environment Technology.
Vietnam's government said toxic industrial waste from the Taiwanese-owned steel plant was responsible for the mass fish deaths that have ravaged local fisheries, disrupted people’s lives and hit tourism in the area, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of people in the region.
There's a positive thing in these, people around the country are more careful about safety of all kinds of food, meaning they wash or boil even vegetables more than ever.
Leaders of Danang City and Ha Tinh Province have taken exemplary actions to assert that swimming and seafood are safe amid growing concern over the death since early April of large numbers of fish along the central coast.
As part of their concerted effort to help local fishermen who have been hit by mass fish deaths and woo scared tourists to beaches, the State's leaders and their family members went swimming and enjoyed seafood during the national holiday on the weekend.
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