Quang Ninh Province has issued regulations on Ha Long Bay protection and management which will tighten control over aquaculture activities.


 


According to the regulations, the province only allows aquaculture in planned and licensed areas of the bay. Meanwhile, aquaculture will be banned at beaches dedicated to swimming and those where tourism activities are held, except for entertainment services such as fishing and diving.


The moved was followed a rise in the number of illegal houseboats on the bay which are being partially blamed for a growing pollution problem.

According to the bay management board, some households were allocated houses but have returned to live on their houseboats. Other Ha Long bay occupants are households that already have houses on the land and those who are not registered as city residents.

These houseboats not only do aquaculture activities but also provide unofficial tourism services such as selling seafood products to tourists. Most of them lack licences to do seafood trading.

The newly-issued regulations also ban various activities such as drawing on caves; exploiting minerals; hunting animals; dumping toxic waste and other activities which badly affect the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site.

Quang Ninh Province asked Ha Long City to work with local management agencies to closely supervise the implementation of the regulation.

Dtinews