Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has assigned respective tasks to ministries and localities in the wake of the serious and unusual mass fish deaths that happened in the central coastal region in early April.

The incident was discovered in Ky Anh township, Ha Tinh province on April 6 and then spread to Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

During a working session with affected localities on May 1, the PM affirmed that the maritime environment, especially the waters up to 20 nautical miles, is safe now, according to a notice recently released by the Government Office.

The Minister of Science and Technology was asked to coordinate with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and relevant ministries and agencies to reach an objective, scientific, independent conclusion on the causes of the incident, based on which, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) will report to the PM to impose strict punishments on any violating individuals or organisations.

The MoNRE and affected local authorities will re-check all waste-discharging manufacturing bases as well as strengthen inspection of coastal industrial production facilities.

The MonRE and Ha Tinh authorities must report on the licensing of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel company and the supervision of its waste discharge system.

In order to control Formosa’s discharge, he suggested immediately placing an automatic monitoring station in the company that connects with a similar one launched by the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The Ministry of Public Security will continue investigating cases of environment violation in the central region while strictly dealing with cases that took advantage of the incident to disturb social safety and order.

The ministries of Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Natural Resources and Environment were requested to publicise a list of safe fishing grounds on the mass media.

Affected fishermen will be entitled to debt waiver, rescheduling or reduction as well as new loans at preferential rates.

The government leaders also agreed with proposals to offer 22.5 kg of rice to each affected household, 5 million VND to each fishing vessel, and low-cost loans to fishery households.

More efforts put in search of cause of mass fish death

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has asked its affiliates to intensify efforts to find the cause of mass fish death in the central provinces.

A large number of fish are dead but no cause has been found yet.

Tran Hong Ha, Minister of MoNRE, asked relevant agencies to focus on economic activities that discharge waste into sea, particularly in the Vung Ang area in Ha Tinh province.

He also instructed establishing stations to frequently monitor the quality of wastewater and waste from factories and ensure easy access to factories’ discharge of waste for frequent supervision.

The ministry will take a tough stance on any organisations and individuals who cause environmental pollution, strictly fine violations, suspend operations of violators and force them to overcome the consequences. Persistent violators could even be prosecuted.

The state management agencies and enterprises must ensure figures from monitoring wastewater and waste treatment plants are transparent, allowing local government, fisheries associations and local people to exercise their supervision.

The ministry said it would form an inter-sector inspection team as well as invite local and foreign scientists to make independent assessment on enterprises who discharge waste into sea and scientifically examine all waste outlets.

The team will begin its activities on May 5 and results will be reported to state management agencies, the mass media and the public.

A large number of dead fish along the coast were first discovered in Ky Anh Township, Ha Tinh province on April 6, then spread to Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

Central provinces put clean fish for sale amid poisoned fish fear

The central city of Da Nang and other affected provinces have launched points of sale for clean fish in the wake of the mass fish deaths that occurred in the central coastal region in early April.

After several fish were found dead ashore in Da Nang on April 26, the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced the test results of sea water samples two days later, saying that all measurements are within allowed limits and the sea is thus safe for swimming and aquatic sports.

The city’s leaders and officials also went for a swim in the sea to counter pollution rumours.

On April 29, the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development convened a dialogue to seek ways to clear obstacles for fishermen and merchants.

Nguyen Phu Ban, Director of the municipal department, said his agency is tracing the origin of seafood on sale.

From May 2, any fishing vessels must have diaries recording which fishing grounds they worked on. After coming back to port, all catches will be checked for quality.

In the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, over 200 tonnes of sea fish were purchased by the provincial authorities over May 1-2.

To shore up public trust, the provincial authorities also granted over 30 certificates to fishermen who catch fish in safe waters.

Clean fish have been put on sale in more markets and shopping malls across the province.

In the past two days, more than 160 tonnes of sea fish were also bought by merchants in the central province of Quang Binh.

The mass fish deaths were discovered in Ky Anh township, Ha Tinh province on April 6 and then spread to Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

Foreign scientists help Vietnam investigate mass fish deaths

Vietnamese environment minister Tran Hong Ha has met with foreign scientists from the US, Germany and Israel in an attempt to identify the cause of recent mass fish deaths in four coastal provinces.

During the meeting in Hanoi, Ha briefed the scientists on the environmental disaster and asked them to “actively support the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Vietnam’s agencies in investigating and identifying the cause of the unusual seafood deaths and in protecting Vietnam’s marine environment in the long term,” according to a statement posted on the ministry's website on May 2.

The scientists specialize in oceanography, coastal geology, coastal engineering and sustainable environment.

Ha also said his Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is willing to let the foreign scientists assess the activities of factories which discharge wastewater into the sea in Vung Ang.

Prof. Roberto Mayerle, director of the Research and Technology Center Westcoast of Kiel University in Germany, said the scientists will also work with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He suggested sending more experts and equipment to Vietnam to help the country investigate the cause of the incident, according to the statement.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told authorities investigating the disaster to do their best and solve the case.

"We will not shield anyone found causing the pollution," he told a meeting in Ha Tinh Province on May 1 attending by all deputy PMs, several Cabinet members, the central bank governor, and leaders of the four provinces affected by massive fish deaths.

“We are reviewing all facilities without exception, including Formosa,” he said.

Hundreds of tons of fish were washed ashore in April in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, apparently killed by industrial effluents.

Suspicion has centered on Hung Nghiep Formosa Steel Company, a major Taiwanese firm in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh, which admitted it has a large sewage pipe going straight into the sea. But it claimed all its discharged wastewater had been treated.

Officials have said they could not find any connection between Formosa's discharge and the disaster.

The environment ministry has admitted that response to the disaster was slow.

VNA/Thanhniennews