Director of the Institute of Oceanography, Vo Si Tuan, talks with Tien Phong Newspaper about possible measures to restore the marine ecosystem in four central provinces that have been affected by the mass fish deaths.

Director of the Institute of Oceanography Vo Si Tuan

Was the marine environment from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue damaged a lot?

There are small coral reefs near Hai Van Mountain Pass, Son Duong, Son Cha and Con Co islands. Even though these coral reefs are small, they are still an important environment for the aquatic species there.

After the pollution, the coral reefs by Yen Island in Quang Binh Province and Son Duong Island in Ha Tinh Province have been affected. The fish have it the worst but we must also pay attention to the lagoon system too.

What do you think we should do to restore the coral reef?

We have to aid the natural recovery. A huge number of fish had died but small fish born from other areas can move there in the future. Our job is to aid this process such as preventing fishermen from using destructive fishing methods which are popular in these provinces.

In addition, we can help restore the coral reefs artificially. For example, at some countries, they place an entire ship underwater to be a shelter for fish or we can put undersea some concrete structures like what we did at Nha Phu Swamp. Instead of waiting for fish to move naturally, we can bring parent fish to the designated areas to breed.

However sea management and protection in our country are not very good. After the coral and fish are restored and thrive again, the fishermen will use destructive fishing methods and ruin it all.

Asides from restoring the ecosystem, we have to limit direct discharges into the sea because there are many factories, not just Formosa, that are dumping their waste into the water. Statistics from the Vietnam Environment Administration from five years ago already showed signs of environmental degradation in four central provinces. The degradation will hinder the development of aquatic resources.

Some people said in order to clean the sea, we would have to suck out all sediment because pollutants had sunk into the seabed. Is that true?

The sea is vast how can we take out all sediment? Even if we could take out the polluted sediment then where would we throw it? Not to mention that the action will disturb the seabed and affect the coral reefs.

But harmful substance like cyanide and phenol will cause long-term damage if we don't clean the sea?

The substances will disperse and decompose or how could the fish be poisoned? The sea will clean itself but whether the process is short or long will depend on how toxic the substances are.

Dtinews