An inventory of VietNam marine and coastal economic and environment
Located in the South-East Asian region, thanks to an over 3400 km of coastline and 3000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, Vietnam is considered as a country has a great potential on marine and coastal economic development. From the North to the South of the country's coastal line, there are hundreds of aquaculture bases, many transshipment ports, fishing ports, tourist beaches, seaside resorts, petroindustrial plants,... that are contributed considerably to the Gross National Product. Beside its benefit on the country one million square kilometers of exclusive
economic sea zone, Vietnam's seawater contains a lot of coral reefs, sea weeds, many valuable......
AN INVENTORY OF VIETNAM MARINE AND COASTAL
ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENT
Le Anh Tuan1, Le Hoang Viet 1, Do Ngoc Quynh2
1
Center for Environmental and Water Resources Engineering - College of Technology
2
International relation office
CanTho University, CanTho City, Vietnam
--- oOo ---
SUMMARY
Located in the South-East Asian region, thanks to an over 3400 km of coastline
and 3000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, Vietnam is considered as a country has a
great potential on marine and coastal economic development. From the North to
the South of the country's coastal line, there are hundreds of aquaculture bases,
many transshipment ports, fishing ports, tourist beaches, seaside resorts, petro-
industrial plants,... that are contributed considerably to the Gross National Product.
Beside its benefit on the country one million square kilometers of exclusive
economic sea zone, Vietnam's seawater contains a lot of coral reefs, sea weeds,
many valuable and rare creatures in out of nearly 11,000 marine species.
Along with rapid economic growth, maritime shipping development and petro-
industrization, Vietnam marine and coastal is being threatened by water pollution
due to the over-exploitation of the natural resources. This report will inventory
some data figures on marine and coastal economic activities and discussion the
environmental problems that may be concerned.
Key words: marine and coastal, economic, environment, development, pollution.
I INTRODUCTION
Vietnam, an independent country located in the SouthEast Asian region
(figure 1), has a total area of 329,560 km2, bordering China to the North, Laos and
Cambodia to the West, the Gulf of Thailand to the South and the Pacific Ocean to
the East. The country stretches from latitudes 830' to 2330'N and has an 3,444
km long of coastline, over 3,000 islands and more than 1,000,000 km2 of exclusive
economic sea zone, including approximately 700,000 km2 of shelf area (to 200 m
depth under the sea level). In average, each 1 kilometer of coastline, Vietnam has
100 km2 of inland area and each 1 km2 of inland area, Vietnam has nearly 4 km2 of
exclusive economic sea zone. Coastal zone is divided into natural areas as follow:
Mong Cai - Do Son, Do Son - Lach Truong, Lach Truong - Mui Ron, Mui Ron - Hai
Van, Hai Van - Dai Lanh, Dai Lanh - Vung Tau, Vung Tau - Ca Mau, Tay Nam Bo,
and off-shore islands. Almost Vietnam coastal and beaches are interesting
tourism points.
Vietnam has a subtropical to tropical climate from the North to the South. The
mean annual temperature at sea level is about 27C in the south, falling steadily
northwards to about 21C in the extreme north. Most of the country receives about
2,000 mm of rainfall per year, but the mountains of the narrow central region of the
country are considerably more humid, with an annual rainfall of up to 3,000 mm.
Each year, there are more or less 10 sea-typoons from the Philippines and the
East Sea attacking the coastal provinces, special the Central region. Sea-
1
typhoons are considered as one of the natural risks for fishing, shipping, tourist
and aquaculture that may be one of the limitation factors to the national
developments.
Historically, Vietnamese has gone along the sea coastal for expending, defending
and building the country. Therefore, the marine and coastal is really an important
strategic objective on the currently nation's socio-economic long-term development
targets, especially the big role has such sea economics as mining, oil exploitation,
sea transportation, fishing, planning, sea food processing and tourism etc...
Being an agricultural country with a high population (more than 80 million
habitants) and limited cultivated land, Vietnam's economy has experienced almost
exponential growth in total output production especially in the last 10 years despite
the global economic crisis during the period 2001 - 2002. Vietnam's Gross
National Product (GDP) was 7.2% in 2003, and is projected at 7.0% for 2004 and
2005, counted mainly on the oil and gas exploitation, fishery and aquaculture
production and tourist activities.
Figure 1: Vietnam location map
Currently, Vietnam territorial waters contain a great wealth of fauna and flora
species. It is surveyed and indicated that there are about 10,837 marine and
coastal plants and animals species exist. They are living in more than 20 typical
ecological systems and distributed in 9 different marine and coastal biodiversity
regions. The higher levels of biodiversity sea zones are recognized as Mong Cai -
Do Son, Hai Van - Dai Lanh and Dai Lanh - Vung Tau. Coral reefs exist on rocky
islands of Halong Bay, the Paracel Island (Hoang Sa) and Spratly Islands (Truong
Sa), both rocky promontories of the central coastline, and around Con Dao Island
and Phu Quoc Islands. Vietnam coastal is evaluated as a place having a high bio-
2
productivity and it is estimated that each year marine and coastal capture fishery
have brought about a net profit of 60 - 80 million USD for the nation.
Vietnam has about 252,000 hectares of the mangrove swamp forests and tidal
mudflats, including estuary and delta systems, numerous small offshore islands,
large coastal brackish and saline lagoons, large areas of salt pans and
aquaculture ponds, many freshwater lakes and water storage reservoirs, and
numerous rivers and streams. The biggest wetland forest is in the Mekong River
Delta (191,800 ha) (figure 2). There are about 1,600 fauna and flora species living
under the canopyes these mangrove forests. Although Vietnam could be a very
valuable renewable resource and there are many sea protected species areas,
however, it seems difficulty to control the threat of sea pollution and over-
exploitation.
Table 1: Vietnam national profiles
Area 329 560 km2
Land boundaries 4 639 km
Continental shelf area approx. 700 000 km2 (to 200 m)
Length of coastline 3 444 km (excludes islands)
Number of islands approx. 3 000
Population (July 2004) 82,689,518
Age structure (July 2004)
0-14 years 29.4% (male 12,524,098; female 11,807,763)
15-64 years 65% (male 26,475,156; female 27,239,543)
65 years and over 5.6% (male 1,928,568; female 2,714,390)
Population growth rate (2004) 1.3%
Administrative divisions 59 provinces and 5 municipalities
provinces An Giang, Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh,
Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong,
Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Ca Mau, Cao Bang, Dac
Lak, Dac Nong, Dien Bien, Dong Nai, Dong Thap,
Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Hai Duong, Ha Nam, Ha Tay, Ha
Tinh, Hau Giang, Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Khanh Hoa,
Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lai Chau, Lam Dong, Lang
Son, Lao Cai, Long An, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Ninh
Binh, Ninh Thuan, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Binh,
Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri,
Soc Trang, Son La, Tay Ninh, Thai Binh, Thai
Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Tien Giang,
Tra Vinh, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Long, Vinh Phuc, Yen
Bai
Municipalities Can Tho, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh
GDP (2003) purchasing power parity - $203.7 billion
GDP - real growth rate (2003) 7.2%
GDP - per capita (2003) purchasing power parity - $2,500
GDP - distribution (2003)
agriculture 21.8%
industry 39.7%
services 38.5%
Investment (gross fixed 2003) 33% of GDP
3
Figure 2: Vietnam water map
(Source: World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC), 1994)
4
II VIETNAM MARINE AND COASTAL ECONOMIC
II.1 OIL AND GAS
Since the early of 1970s, oil and gas in the offshore and continental shelf of
the Southern Vietnam (the Cuu Long and South Con Son Basin) have been
allowed to survey. After 1990, the activities of oil exploration have really expanded
parallel with the economical development of the country. Vietnam has been
identified as a medium priority market for the oil and gas sector (Table 2). Annually
Vietnam oil and gas production rapidly increased and reached 16.8 millions tons
and 1.6 billions cubic meters respectively. Total petroleum production is over 98
millions tones of oil and 5.6 billions cubic meters of gas.
Currently, there are six largest operating oil fields (figure 3), of which Bach Ho
(White Tiger), Rang Dong (Dawn), Hong Ngoc (Rubi), and Dai Hung (Big Bear)
are the largest. Crude oil production averaged 352,507 barrels per day (bbl/d) in
2003 (figure 4). Almost a large portion of its oil production is exported mainly to
Japan, Singapore, the United States, South Korea due to there is no operating oil
refineries. The 140,000 bbl/d Dung Quat Oil Refinery Plant in Quang Ngai
province is under construction with the estimation cost of $1.3 billion. A new
largest oil storage facility with the capacity of 2.68 million barrels is being planed to
build in Khanh Hoa province. Oil and natural gas exploration and production
industries in Vietnam is now conducted foreign investors and Vietnam Oil and Gas
Corporation (PetroVietnam), a government-owned company.
Figure 3: Vietnam Oil and gas exploitaion map
(Source: PetroVietnam, 2004)
5
Figure 4: Vietnam Crude Oil Production
(Source: PetroVietnam, 2004)
Table 2: Oil and Gas data figures
Proven Oil Reserves (2004) 600 million barrels
Oil Production (2003) 352,507 barrels per day (bbl/d)
Oil Consumption (2003) 202,000 bbl/d
Net Oil Exports (2003) 150,507 bbl/d
Natural Gas Reserves (2004) 6.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf)
Natural Gas Production (2002) 79.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf)
Natural Gas Consumption (2002) 79.8 Bcf
(Source: PetroVietnam, 2004)
In Vietnam, natural gas production and consumption are rising quickly. It is
estimated that about 70% of urban households using liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) for cooking and other purposes. In 2004, PetroVietnam has taken 202
billion cubic feet from the oil fields as Bach Ho, Hong Ngoc and Rang Dong, Lan
Tay (Western Orchid), Lan Do (Red Orchid), Ca Ngu Vang (Golden Tuna) and Voi
Trang (White Elephant) wells ... Natural gas is exploited and transported from
offshore oil fields to Dinh Co Gas Terminal in Ba Ria - Vung Tau onshore for
consuming use partly in Phu My electricity power plant. Another gas-power-
nitrogenous fertilizer plant complex projection southernmost Ca Mau was
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approved with the investigation cost of $230 million and the capacity of
approximately 70 billion cubic feet per year and the electricity generation of 720
megawatt.
The oil and petroleum products such as DO, FO for domestic and industrial uses
were imported fully. 2003 was to see 2,410 ton of petroleum products shipments
transferred and the amount of oil to be transshipped there will be increase
gradually in the years to come.
During the period 1970 - 1990, there were no record concerning the oil spill
events. The oil spill events have been officially recorded in Vietnam since 1994
(Table 3). From 1994 to 2002, port authorities have counted at least 35 oil spill
events. It is estimated that about 92,000 ton of oil have been poured into the
Vietnam sea and coastlines. Ho Chi Minh port is considered as a biggest black
spot on the oil spill pointed map of Vietnam.
Table 3: Numbers of oil spills from ships in Vietnam (1995 - 2002)
Year Number of cases Oil Spill Amount (ton)
1995 2 202
1996 7 68,300
1997 4 2,450
1998 6 12,900
1999 10 7,600
2000 2 45
2001 3 app. 900
6/2002 1 24
(Sources: Department of Environmental Protection,
Environmental Status Report, 2002)
II.2 FISHERY AND AQUACULTURE
The Vietnamese marine capture fisheries can be divided into coastal
fishery, inshore fishery (at a depth of less than 20 m), shallow water offshore
fishery (up to approx. 50 m depth) and deep-sea fishery (more than 50 m depth). It
is found that in Vietnam's marine and coastal there are 10,837 species of plants
and animals exist classified as below :
Flora: 537 species of algae, 662 species of macrophytes, 15 species of
seagrass. Mangrove flora has 94 species.
Zooplankton: 468 species
Benthic fauna: 6,337 species of benthos, 225 species of marine shrimps,
298 species of hard corals (Scleractinia)
53 species of cephalopods have been identified.
2,038 fish species belonging to 717 genera, 178 families have been
recorded.
Various animals: 50 species of marine snakes, 4 species of tortoise, and 16
marine mammal species have been identified.
(Source: Environmental Database Division, 2002)
Out of 1260 marine fish species, Vietnam's water contains approximately 100
commercially viable marine fish species of which 1.3 million tons of the
approximately 3.5 million tons are considered renewable. Marine capture fishery
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and brackish water aquaculture production have developed strongly in Vietnam
after economic reform, special since 1990s and towards. Fishery have been
regarded as one the most important sectors in the Vietnamese economy. In 2000,
the fishery and aquaculture export value up by 35% to $1.3 billion and total output
production up by 20% to 1,827,310 tons. According the Vietnam Ministry of
Fishery (1997), the potential area for aquaculture development is estimated at
1.82 million hectares as distributed as figure 5.
Figure 5: Potential fisheries development
(Sources: Ministry of Fisheries, 1997)
Each year, Vietnam sea area can supply nearly 4.2 million tons of marine fishes
(table 4), 45,000 tons of shrimp (table 5), 64,000 tons of cuttlefish (table 6) and
59,000 tons of squid (table 7). Beside marine animals, there are also many high
valued natural resources such as Gracilaria verrucosa, Sargassum can be
exploited with a volume of 45,000 - 50,000 tons. In addition, there are also many
precious species such as abalones, sea turtles, sea birds. Fish fin, fish bladder,
mother pearl can also be exploited.
Vietnamese fishers still have used traditional inshore fishing with small and
medium wooden boats, simple fishnets and own-experiences applied direct nearby
the beaches, estuaries, shallow river mouths. They have captured all kinds and
sizes of fish and shellfish species for their daily protein possible. Over-fishing
capture situation becomes one of the serious pressures on the coastal and seabed
animal resources in present. About 8% of fishers have investigated new big
vessels equipped with 400-500 horse-power (HP) engines for deep-sea fishing.
There are an additional 1.4 million ha of freshwater, brackishwater and marine
water-surface available for aquaculture purposes, mainly shrimp, smaller mud
crab, lobster, oyster and seaweed. However, the productivity of aquaculture is
rather low (250-300 kg/ha) compared to other countries in the region. It is
estimated that there are 3.4 million labourers working in the fishery sector as
fishing, processing and services, of which more than 700,000 are involved in
aquaculture.
Up to now, Viet Nam’s fisheries products has punched in 80 countries and
territories. It is expected that the fisheries production will score 3.3 million MT
(including 1.94 million MT of capture and 1.36 million MT of aquaculture) and the
export will amount to US$2.6 billion in 2005 (Ministry of Fishery, 2002). There is a
high requirement for upgrading the seafood processing technique according to
international standards as coveted EU, Japanese and the USA export licenses.
8
Table 4. Vietnam marine fish stock and fishing capacity
Sea Fish stock Fishing capacity % entire
Kind of fish Depth
area Ton (%) Ton (%) sea area
Small pelagic fish 390,000 57.3 156,000 57.3
Tonkin < 50m 39,200 5.7 15,700 5.7
Dermersal fish 16.3
Gulf > 50m 252,000 37 100,800 37
Total 681,200 272,500
Small pelagic fish 500,000 82.5 200,000 82.5
Central < 50m 18,500 3.0 7,400 3.0
Dermersal fish 14.5
region > 50m 87,900 14.5 35,200 14.5
Total 606,400 242,600
Small pelagic fish 524,000 25.2 209,600 25.2
South
< 50m 349,200 16.8 139,800 16.8
Eatern Dermersal fish 49.7
> 50m 1,202,700 58.0 481,100 58.0
region
Total 2,075,900 830,400
South Small pelagic fish 316,000 62.0 126,000 62.0
Western Dermersal fish < 50m 190,700 38.0 76,300 38.0 12.1
region Total 506,700 202,300
Floating
Small pelagic fish 10,000 100 2,500 100 0.2
knoll
Whole
Deep sea pelagic
sea (300,000) (120,000) 7.2
fish (*)
area
Small pelagic fish 1,740,000 694,100
Demersal fish 2,140,000 855,900
Deep sea pelagic 100
Total (300,000) (120,000)
fish (*)
Total 4,180,000 1,700,000
(*) Data presumed according to total catch of the countries in this sea area
Source : Research Institute of Marine Products (RIMP)
Compiler : Fisheries Information Centre (FICen)
Table 5: Reserve and capable to exploitation of shrimp (ton) in Vietnam sea area
< 50m 50 - 100m 100 - 200m > 200m Total
Sea
Fish Fishing Fish Fishing Fish Fishing Fish Fishing Fish Fishing
area
stock capacity stock capacity stock capacity stock capacity stock capacity
Tonkin
318 116 114 42 430 158
Gulf
Central
7 3 2,462 899 13,482 4,488 34 12 15,985 5,402
region
South
Eastern 8,160 2,475 2,539 927 6,092 2,224 1,852 676 18,641 6,300
region
South
Western 9,180 3,351 166 61 9,346 3,412
region
Total 17.664 5.945 5.281 1.929 19.574 6.712 1.886 688 44.402 15.272
Source : Research Institute of Marine Products (RIMP)
Compiler : Fisheries Information Centre (FICen)
9
Table 6: Reserve and capable to exploitation of cuttlefish in Vietnam sea area
Reserve & fishing
Region < 50m 50 - 100 m 100 - 200 m > 200 m Total
capacity (ton)
Tonkin Gulf Reserve 1,500 400 1,900
Fishing capacity 600 160 760
Central region Reserve 3,900 3,840 4,500 1,300 13,540
Fishing capacity 1,560 1,530 1,800 520 5,410
South Eastern Reserve 24,900 10,800 7,400 5,600 48,700
region Fishing capacity 9,970 4,300 2,960 2,250 19,480
Reserve 30,300 14,990 11,900 6,910 64,100
Total Fishing capacity 12,130 5,990 4,760 2,770 25,650
Percentage (%) 47.3 23.3 18.6 10.8 100
Source : Research Institute of Marine Products (RIMP)
Compiler : Fisheries Information Centre (FICen)
Table 7: Reserve and capable to exploitation of squid in Vietnam sea area
Reserve & fishing
Region < 50m 50 - 100 m 100 - 200 m > 200 m Total
capacity (ton)
Reserve 9,240 2,520 11,760
Tonkin Gulf Fishing capacity 3,700 1,000 4,700
Percentage % 78.6 21.4 10
Reserve 320 140 2,000 3,000 5,760
Central region Fishing capacity 130 180 810 1,190 2,310
Percentage % 5.5 7.5 35.3 51.7 10
Reserve 21,300 12,800 2,600 4,900 41,500
South Eastern Fishing capacity 8,500 5,100 1,000 2,000 16,600
region Percentage % 51.3 30.9 6.1 11.7 10
Reserve 30,900 15,700 1,600 7,900 59,100
Total Fishing capacity 12,400 6,300 1,800 3,100 23,600
Percentage (%) 52.2 26.7 7.8 13.3 100
Source : Research Institute of Marine Products (RIMP)
Compiler : Fisheries Information Centre (FICen)
II.3 TOURISM
Vietnam is considered as one of the favourable geographical position for
tourism development in the South East Asian Region. The tourism potential of
Vietnam is very rich with beautiful natural beaches, islands, caves, water and
forest resources and historical-cultural humanity Currently, each year Vietnam
Tourism has received more than 2 million international visitors and overseas
Vietnamese.
Tourism have contributed considerable for national budget, approximately 10%
GDP of the whole country. Vietnam Tourism has indicated 7 areas which are given
priority to investment in tourism development, 5 of them are coastal and sea areas
(figure 6).
1. Ha Noi Capital and the surrounding areas.
2. Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Island-Do Son Peninsula, which belong to Quang Ninh
and Hai Phong.
3. The area of Hue-Da Nang-Lao Bao.
4. The areas of Van Phong bay-Nha Trang-Ninh Chu-Da lat.
5. The Vung Tau-Long Hai coastal areas.
6. Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding areas.
7. Ha Tien-Phu Quoc marine areas.
10
Figure 6: Prioritised zones for tourism development in Vietnam
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2000)
Untreated wastewater and solid waste from hotels and restaurants, beaches,
tourism boats and ships are sources of serious pressure on the water quality in the
tourism areas. To meet a sustainable development, Vietnam tourism should
combine the environmental resources management, special in marine and coastal
environment. It is strictly noticed because more than 70 percent of the leisure and
tourist of Vietnam are located at the coastal areas, attracting annually 80 percent
of the total tourist number. The sea tourism may be strongly affected if there are
many uncontrollable modern industrial processes, oil spill disasters,
overexploitation of natural resources and the negative impacts of human activities.
II.4 PORT AND MARINE TRANSPORT
At present there are 7 big ports and more than 50 small ports located at
estuaries and along the coast. Generally, Vietnamese flotilla is still weak with
average useful life of 15 - 20 years. Vietnam ports are also places for goods and
oil transshipment to other countries. Vietnam sea is also currently waterway for oil
transportation from Middle East to the country and other Eastern Asian region
(figure 7). Waterway dredging is necessary to do regularly for almost Vietnam
ports because sedimentation processes are constantly raising. For the
environmental protection of ports, it is important think is to restrain the oil spill
disasters and other shipping accidents. Ports should provide around-the-clock
11
services which are capable of mopping up spilled oil on the seas and the rivers
surrounding.
Figure 7: Oil shipping ways in the world
III VIETNAM MARINE AND COASTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Vietnam is known as one of countries have had a high biodiversity in the
world (Table 8), including in species composition, landscapes and ecosystems as
well. In the last few years, the growth rate of industrial production was 10-15% per
year and highly distributed to the percentage of GDP in the whole country,
especially in the development zones. However, this growth involves production of
waste water, much of which is not treated and flows into the rivers and then on to
the coastal zone. Otherwise, Vietnam biodiversity is being threatenedd by its
modernization and industrialization processs (Table 9). Coral reef condition in
Vietnam is declining (figure 8).
Table 8: Comparison between the number of species in Vietnam and the world
Taxa No. of species in No. of species in SV/SW
Vietnam (SV)* the world (SW) (%)
Mammals 265 4,000 6.8
Birds 800 9,040 8.8
Reptiles 180 6,300 2.9
Amphibians 80 4,184 2.0
Fishes 2,470 19,000 13.0
Plants 7,000 220,000 3.2
Mean percentage of global biodiversity 6.2
* estimated to be 12,000
(Source: WCMC database, 1994)
12
Table 9: Nationally threatened species in Vietnam
Taxa/Category Endangered Vulnerable Threatened Rare Indeterminate Total
Mammals 30 23 1 24 - 78
Birds 14 6 32 31 - 83
Reptiles/ Amphibians 8 19 16 11 - 54
Fishes 6 24 13 29 3 75
Inverts 10 24 9 29 3 75
Total 68 96 71 124 6 365
(Source: WCMC database, 1994)
Figure 8: Reefs at risk in Vietnam
(Source: Vo Si Tuan, 1998)
There are three main reasons that may lead the degradation of environment
seriously in Vietnam as following:
Industrial pollution: almost the industrial plants have been constructed closed
the water areas as coastal, estuaries, river banks, reservoirs, lagoons and
wetlands. Their untreated wastewater and hazardous wastes and other tailings
are highly sources for water pollution. Oil pollution due to shipping activities
and accidents occurs in the coastal estuarine waters. Almost 29 coastal
provinces of Vietnam are facing oil spills problem and the number of such
accident has grown over the last few years, especially in the Southern sea. A
significant amount of uncollected solid waste from the households also goes
into rivers and the sea.
Chemical pollution: over-used agriculture fertilizers and pesticide have runoff
from the fields to the streams caused water pollution. A great amount of
organic compounds, heavy metals and oil comprises the pollution load of such
waste water. Together with the recorded oil spills, attention must also be paid
to oil spills from non-identified sources. Untreated wastewater from households
have also contributed the degradation of water quality.
13
Natural overexploitation: increasing population pressure, high poverty and
paucity of livelihood opportunities are contributing to the natural resources
overexploitation and habitat destruction and biodiversity losses. The situation
of overfishing, fishing with poisons and explosives, fishing with fine gill nets,
electric fishing, … are destroying aqua habitats. Coral habitats are threatened
by pollution, including siltation from land; over exploitation of fish and
invertebrates, oil spill disasters, and coral breaking for the souvenir trade,
making cement, …
These are some suggestions to response for marine water protection:
To adopt and apply strictly a legislation system (Appendix 1) concerning
marine environment protection.
To raise awareness to the people via community education programmes for
keeping the sea clean, especially in the beaches and tourism points.
To build wastewater treatment plants for big cities, industrial zones as a legal
requirement.
To control and prepare oil spill events.
Vietnam marine and coastal has been increasing his great important role in the
country economic and social development in recent years and towards. However,
the sea ecosystem is very dramatic and sensitive if we continue to exploit without
protection. Vietnam waters should become one of the country’s most express
concern now for a long-term firm development targets.
Le Anh Tuan – Le Hoang Viet -- Do Ngoc Quynh
CanTho University, Vietnam
2005
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Appendix 1
KEY OCEAN MANAGEMENT RELATED LEGISLATION
Legislation Description
National Conservation This Strategy is a national program that addresses the
Strategy (1985) issues of conservation and rational use of natural resources.
Ordinance on the This Ordinance seeks to ensure the unification of
Protection and management for the protection and development of aquatic
Development of Aquatic resources, the protection of habitat and the prohibition of all
Resources (1989) acts that endanger aquatic resources.
Ordinance on the This Ordinance provides for the sustainable management of
Conservation and fisheries and deals with such matters as fishing seasons,
Management of Living catch size, prevention of pollution in fisheries grounds and
Aquatic Resources (1989) the encouragement of local and international investment of
capital and technology.
National Plan for This Plan outlines a national framework for action in the field
Environment and of environment and sustainable development for Vietnam.
Sustainable Development
1991-2000
Law on Petroleum (July This Law regulates the exploration and production of
6th 1993) petroleum resources within the territorial waters, the EEZ
and on the Continental Shelf
Oil and Gas Law (1994) This Law establishes the process for the grant of initial
leases to companies engaged in oil and gas activities. The
law also imposes environmental protection requirements on
these companies.
Environmental Protection This Law protects the environment by implementing
Law (LEP) Vietnam’s obligations under various international
environmental conventions
National Law on This Law takes a holistic approach to oceans governance.
Environment Protection Its objectives are to create an integrated management
(1993) structure, increase environmental awareness in the general
public and safeguard human and environmental health so as
to create an environment for sustainable development
Vietnam Maritime The Maritime Code largely covers ships and crews, it
Code/Law (1990) includes provisions on the responsibilities for protecting the
marine environment and for dealing with pollution and
accidents in the marine environment. This law also
prescribes liability for environmental damage
Biodiversity Action Plan This is a comprehensive Plan that sets out broad strategies
(1995) for strengthening institutional capacity in the management of
protected areas, wetlands and biological diversity in general.
These strategies are consistent with the obligations under
the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Integrated Coastal This Plan considers environmental issues as well as the
Management Plan (ICM) dominant social and economic concerns of Vietnam with
(1996-2000) regard to Coastal development National Marine and Coastal
Zone Development Strategy of Vietnam Under this Strategy,
Vietnam has passed a number of legal and policy
instruments in order to improve the integration of national
marine and coastal management systems.
Fisheries Master Plan for This Plan is focused on improving fisheries management
Fisheries to the Year 2010 and development
15
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Web links:
http://www.rrcap.unep.org/reports/soe/vietnam/issues/index.htm
http://www.globaloceans.org/globalinfo/seasia/ICM_SEA.htm
http://www.fistenet.gov.vn/english/TSVN/khaithac.htm
http://www.fao.org/fi/fcp/en/VNM/profile.htm
http://www.vietnamtourism.com/index/e_index.asp
http://www.petrovietnam.com.vn/Modules/PVHome.asp
http://www.petrovietnam.com.vn/Modules/PVWEBBrowser.asp
http://www.oilspill.com.vn/Index_en.cfm
http://www.vietnam-ustrade.org/Eng/seafood.htm
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/
http://www.mofi.gov.vn/fsps/aboutus/almrv.aspx
http://www.apec-oceans.org/economy%20profile%20summaries/vietnam-draft.pdf
http://www.wcmc.org.uk /infoserv/countryp/vietnam/app5.html
http://www.pemsea.org/vietnam.htm
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