Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – Residents and fishermen in the centralprovince of Thua Thien-Hue affected by the environmental incident in 2016 havemade effective use of compensation from the Taiwanese-invested Hung Nghiep FormosaHa Tinh Steel Corporation.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Phuong said themoney has been spent to build high-capacity fishing vessels and buy new fishinggear.
The province’s Phu Loc district continued to dole out the compensation worth149 billion VND (6.57 million USD) to 7,484 people from April 13.
The receivers include ship owners and employers, fishermen, aquacultureproduction households and cooperatives and fish sauce producers.
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 four provinces and ThuaThien-Hue alone reported 35 tonnes of farm-raised fish had died.
The pollution also affected more than 260,000 people who earn their living fromthe sea.
In June last year, Formosa accepted responsibility for the mass fish deaths andpledged compensation to local fishermen and to help renew the polluted marineenvironment.-VNA
VNA