The finding of the cause behind the environmental accident which led to the mass fish deaths in four central provinces in mid-2016 was cited by Mai Trong Nhuan, former director of the Hanoi National University, as proof showing the role played by Vietnam’s science in the country’s development

At first, many assumptions were cited to explain the reason behind the mass fish deaths in the central region commencing on April 6, 2016, including an oil slick, earthquake and epidemic. 

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE), hypothesizing an algae bloom, on April 27 stated there was no evidence to come to the conclusion that Formosa and plants were involved in the mass fish deaths.

Only when scientists took part in the investigation was the problem clarified. They found the reason and the culprit who caused the accident – Formosa Ha Tinh.

“If scientists had not made such a conclusion based on convincing evidence, this would have fallen into a deadlock,” Nhuan said.

The role of Vietnamese scientists in the country’s development and people’s livelihoods was especially apparent in 2016.

The analysis of satellite images showed that oil spills must not be the reason. The analysis of figures about earthquakes in Vietnam and the region also proved that geological disaster must be excluded. 

And the analysis of fish allowed scientists to conclude that the fish died not because of disease. Though the algae bloom was found on a small scale, this was not the reason behind the mass fish deaths.

Scientists found convincing evidence to prove that there was a waste water source from Vung Ang area of Ha Tinh province which, combined with iron hydroxide, created a substance containing toxicity which had a density higher than the sea water and moved in accordance with ocean currents from the north to the south, causing the mass fish deaths.

The convincing evidence shown by Vietnamese scientists, plus arguments from international scientists, then forced Formosa Ha Tinh, the Taiwanese investor, to admit its responsibility for polluting the marine environment.

Minister of Science & Technology Chu Ngoc Anh, noting that it took scientists only two months to come to the conclusion, affirmed this showed the great efforts by scientists. In a similar environmental disaster in Chiba, Japan in December 2004, scientists needed one year to find the truth.

Scientists also deserved credit for issuing warnings about extreme weather conditions to help minimize their effects on people’s lives. 

They issued an early warning that rainfall would decrease by 40-60 percent in Mekong Delta and by 49-70 percent in the Central Highlands in 2014, 2015 and 2016, all of which actually occurred.

Chi Mai