Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Do Dinh Minh, head of the Quang Ninh Aquaculture Sub-department, noted that aquatic species that live deep under the sea are subjected to methods that use electricity.

This method kills all living things which the electricity current touches, including eggs, fish larvae and ephemera, which could be food for aquatic creatures.

Minh said that fishermen even take risks catching fish in Ha Long Bay area with special homemade cages. They do not keep cages on boats, but put the cages back at the bottom of the sea after picking up fish.

Fishing is now prohibited in the core area of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination, with an area of around 1,553 square kilometers.

Trawlers are also commonly used to catch mollusks. If the illegal fishing is discovered by agencies, fishermen will leave the trawlers at sea and run away. 

“All these destructive fishing methods are damaging the living environment of aquatic creatures which may lead to extirpation one day,” he said. “These cages block the way of bottom-layer creatures’ movement, while trawlers destroy the bottom layer environment.”

Nguyen Thi Nhung, the owner of a seafood restaurant, said it is very difficult now to catch snail (Strombidae), oyster (Austriella corrugata) and some species of cuttlefish.

“These are specialties of Quang Ninh and we have big orders for these seafood products, but we cannot satisfy the demand,” she said.

“Fishermen with these electrical methods have killed small fish, larvae and spawn,” she explained. 

Nhung said that fishermen earn big money when fishing with trawlers. A fishing trip that lasts one week can bring revenue of hundreds of million of dong. 

That is why fishermen continue using trawlers to catfish, ignoring the warning about the exhaustion of aquatic resources and the ban from local authorities.

Captain Dang The Hung, deputy head of Hon Gai Border Guard Station, confirmed that illegal fishing boats are willing to repeat an offence even though heavy sanctions were imposed, while many others even fish in prohibited areas.

“They will stand up to officers if they are discovered and chased,” he said.

Local newspapers reported that Quang Ninh provincial Party Committee’s Secretary Nguyen Van Doc, when inspecting fishing activities in Bai Tu Long Bay last August, discovered that nearly all the fishing boats were using prohibited instruments.

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