Scene at the conference (Photo: VNA) ThuaThien-Hue (VNA) – A conference took place in the central province ofThua Thien – Hue on August 31 to discuss the protection and resilience of the marineecosystem in the waters in the four central regions that suffered from massfish deaths last year.
Massfish deaths, caused by wastewater discharged by Taiwan’s Hung Nghiep Formosa HaTinh steel company, were first reported in Ha Tinh on April 6, 2016. Theincident also occurred in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.
Asa result, more than 200 kilometres of coastline were polluted, devastating themarine environment and local economies of those provinces, which largely relyon fishing and tourism.
Accordingto a report from the Research Institute for Marine Fisheries, after theincident, aquatic resources in the waters have declined significantly and been experiencingstructural fluctuations. Species living on, in, or near the seabed and coralreef systems have been degraded with little recovery. Fishing in these areashas been resumed but is yet stable.
Atthe function, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tampointed to a number of measures, including replanting coral reefs, buildingartificial ecology to provide shelters for sea creatures, and closelymonitoring recovery capacity of the ecosystem.
NguyenVan Huan, Vice Director of the Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said annual release of fry and fishing ban in the breeding seasonare necessary, alongside the control of illegal fishing methods and developmentof funds for marine protection and rehabilitation.
Thesame day, over 30,000 young shrimps were released at the Thuan An fishing portin Thua Thien – Hue’s Phu Vang district.-VNA
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