VietNamNet Bridge – Environmental protection in Ha Long Bay, in the northern province of Quang Ninh, remains difficult as large amounts of rubbish are generated by tourists and rubbish collection activity is not effective, according to local authorities.

Ha Long Bay Management Board workers collect rubbish on the bay, as part of efforts to limit pollution. – VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Dan

Observations by a Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper correspondent revealed that one of Ha Long City’s most beautiful roads which runs along the seashore from the Bai Chay Road to Hong Ha Ward, always hosts different rubbish dumps. The rubbish smells bad when the tide ebbs. And rubbish drifts when the tide rises.

Nguyen Duc Ba, a resident of Bach Dang Ward, said he sometimes sees a team aboard a ship collecting drifting rubbish floating in the sea. But no one collects rubbish on the shore.

Vu Thi Lan, a visitor from the central city of Da Nang, came to Ha Long Bay for the first time. She felt uncomfortable seeing rubbish everywhere.

Nguyen Cong Thai, deputy director of the Ha Long Bay Management Board, told Quang Ninh Newspaper that protecting the environment of the bay is very difficult. The most difficult problem is the shortage of workers, tools and ships to collect the rubbish.

To improve the polluted conditions, the management board recently set up teams to collect rubbish along the seashore and transport it inland. The board regularly offered education on protecting the environment to visitors and local residents. The board also gave rubbish bins to residents living in fishing villages on the bay and assigned ships to take the rubbish to the mainland for treatment weekly.

Next time, concerned wards will be assigned to manage and collect rubbish along the seashore in their areas, to tighten management on the issue.

“To protect Ha Long Bay, community responsibility is very important, in addition to management board responsibility,” said Thai.

Every year Ha Long Bay receives nearly three million visitors. The provincial People’s Committee spends more than VND3 billion (US$133,300) per year from the Ha Long Bay tourism fund to collect and treat rubbish, according to the committee.

VNS