VietNamNet Bridge - The General Department of Vietnam Sea and Islands said that Vietnam’s inshore water quality is still good, with most of the indexes meeting the Vietnamese standard. However, as influenced by estuary areas and receipt of waste from business activities in the coastal areas, some waters have been found having high total suspended solids (TSS). 

The increase of organic matter content and oil are matters of concern.

A report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) showed that about 70 percent of waste into the sea, mostly untreated, is from the mainland, discharged by factories, residential quarters, hospitals and agriculture production units.

The waste goes through sewers into rivers which then bring the waste, together with sediment, plastic, chemical, metal, oil sludge, and even radioactive substances, into the sea. Therefore, the organic matter-caused pollution in inshore water is more commonly seen in coastal provinces and cities.

The General Department of Vietnam Sea and Islands said that Vietnam’s inshore water quality is still good, with most of the indexes meeting the Vietnamese standard.

The COD and NH4 contents in surveyed areas in 2011-2015 were higher than the Vietnamese permitted level designed for aquaculture and beaches. 

Scientists showed their deep concern about the red tide in the southern part of the central region. At the beaches along the central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, red tide caused serious consequences to the environment.

This is attributed to overdevelopment of tourism, urbanization, agriculture and industry, which has led to the excessive nutrients and organic waste in water, called eutrophication. 

Aquatic hatchery and the farming of lobster and grouper in cages also discharges considerable volume of nutrients into the environment, thus facilitating the development of algae.

While the surface water area used for aquaculture remains unchanged, the seafood output has been increasing rapidly by 9.07 percent per annum. The total surface water area reserved for aquaculture is up to hundreds of thousands of hectares, while salt and brackish water area accounting for 72 percent of total area.

The Mekong Delta is the major aquaculture area and seafood producer in Vietnam with seafood exports accounting for 65 percent of the country’s total seafood exports.

The existence of aquaculture ponds in coastal areas has led to big changes in habitat of biomes, salinity, sedimentation and erosion. Vietnam needs 4.4 million tons of feed for aquaculture. 

Meanwhile, it is estimated that 5.5 tons of solid waste and tens of thousands of cubic meters of waste water are discharged into the sea from every one hectare of shrimp pond area just within one crop.

The Cat Ba National Park with 5,400 hectares of water surface area, which was once a fresh island, has become polluted since the day it began serving tourism and aquaculture.

Thien Nhien