Four central localities were seriously ravaged by Formosa-caused sea environmental incident in April 2016 (Photo: VNA) He made the request at the seventh meeting of the SteeringCommittee on solutions to stabilise the living and production of locals in fourprovinces - Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue, which were ravagedby the incident caused by Formosa company in April 2016.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Vu Van Tam, the People’s Committees of the four affected provinceshave distributed the third prepayment for compensation to all districts and locals.
They approved over 4.528 trillion VND (198.92 million USD) outof 5.28 trillion VND (232.37 million USD), or 85.8 percent of compensationpre-paid by the Prime Minister. As of April 24, the provinces disbursed 4.244trillion VND (186.6 million USD), equivalent to 93.7 percent of the approvedamount and 80.4 percent of the total advanced payment.
Ha Tinh distributed 1.129 trillion VND (49.29 million USD),while Quang Binh allocated 1.98 trillion VND (87.13 million USD), Quang Tri460.9 billion VND (20.28 million USD) and Thua Thien-Hue 579 billion VND (25.48million USD), said Tam.
The Health Ministry reported that it took samples for testof a total of 5,369 tonnes of seafood (excluding a number of products such asjellyfish, fish sauces, dried and frozen seafood) gathered from April to August2016, while the four working groups reported a higher amount of over 6,912tonnes, surpassing the Health Ministry’s figure by over 1,543 tonnes.
So far, the provinces destroyed nearly 1,104 tonnes ofunder-qualified seafood in storage, while they have paid 50 percent of thevalue of the ruined seafood.
Production and living conditions of locals in four provincesare basically stabilised, said Tam, adding that marine resources have beenrecovered. As many as 70-80 percent of the vessels operating near the coasthave resumed their operation, while 80-90 percent of offshore fishing boatsalso restored their production.
In the first quarter of this year, total catching in thelocalities was 25,386 tonnes, a fall of 8.8 percent over the same period lastyear, he said, adding that their farmed aquaculture production was 6,279tonnes, a rise of 3.12 percent.
After considering the provinces’ request for nearly 768billion VND (33.79 million USD) of additional compensation, the MARD proposedthe Prime Minister to pay 30 percent of the stocked frozen seafood meeting foodsafety requirements.
The ministry also asked for approval on the destruction andcompensation of 100 percent of the value of the rotten jellyfish, and dried seafoodstored in coastal localities at an estimate cost of 377.448 billion VND (16.61million USD).
Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh approved the compensation for theseafood being kept at coastal localities that has not been tested by the HealthMinistry.
However, the compensation must be implemented in an open andtransparent manner, he said.
He assigned the chairmen of the people’s committees of thefour provinces to take the responsibility on the accuracy of the beneficiariesas well as quantity and scale of compensation, while reviewing and reportingexact foundation proving the seafood was gathered within April and August lastyear.
He asked the Ministry of Finance to supervise the work.
The Deputy PM also requested the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment to continue guiding localities to gather samples forevaluating sea water quality in the four localities, while keeping close watch onthe operation of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh.
The MARD was asked to continue collecting seafood, seawaterand sediment samples for testing, serving the direction of aquaculture and saltproduction and exploitation.
At the same time, the ministry was urged to send fisheriessurveillance forces to coordinate with and support the four localities instrengthening patrol and guiding fishermen not to exploiting seafood in seabedof waters about 20 nautical mile off the coast from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue.
The mass fish deaths were first reported on April 6, 2016 when a large numberof fish washed ashore in Ha Tinh province. The incident also occurred in QuangBinh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces.
About 70 tonnes of dead fish were found in the fourprovinces and Thua Thien-Hue alone reported 35 tonnes of farm-raised fish haddied.
The pollution also affected more than 260,000 people whoearn their living from the sea.
In June last year, Formosa accepted responsibility for themass fish deaths and pledged compensation to local fishermen and to help renewthe polluted marine environment.-VNA
VNA
