At the seminar "Vietnam and Cuba sharing experiences on preservation of coral reef” which was hold by the Vietnam Environment Administration in Hanoi, experts considered that:
Vietnam's coral reeves for recent 10 years have suffered heavily deformation, in which sea pollution is a key reason. The sources of causing pollution have been pointed out which are urban wastewater, wastewater from the development of tourism, agriculture, cattle breeding floats, erosion of the surface and so on.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sea and Islands Administration said:
- Habit of destructive catch by explosive or xyanua substance causes reducing the quantity for kinds of coral. We need to supervise and fine adequately for this habit. About 2 mg dose of explosive can destroy about 4 km² coral foundation. Although this method of catch is forbidden completely, it is still broken. To catch quarry, fish-men destroy coral layer where quarry is hiding, which causes for degradation of structure of coral reef.
* Is the habit of destructive catch not the main reason of reduction of coral kinds?
- Yes. Collection of sea creatures for souvenir business is being implemented most strongly in further areas of Spratly Islands and also makes diversification of these faunas in coral reefs that are nearest to coast more and more exhausted. We witnessed with our own eyes trade of large amount of shell and coral in many cities. Solid waste is also a factor of harming coral reef. In addition, some other reasons were shown as the growth of kinds of aquatic animals eating coral, surface erosion of mountain chains and plains, flows of rivers tugging dregs to the sea.
* Which areas have the biggest deformation of coral reef, Sir?
- They are in Con Dao, then Ninh Thuan and Nha Trang. However, stability of the coral reefs in Cham Island, Van Phong or Phu Quoc still is preserved.
* In the eight among 15 sea protection areas in Vietnam, coral reefs are always given priority to protect, which proves the importance of ecosystem because of more and more increased bio- diversification as well as its socio-economic importance. However, facing these above harmful factors you have just mentioned, what strategies the appreciate authorities have given to preserve the coral reefs?
- Currently, artificial recovery of coral reefs is used by Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography as a tool to train and raise self-awareness of the environment protection for residents in the community and tourists.
The Department of Protected Areas Management has been established; however, the roles of the community, navy force and other sectors have not still ensured for the effective use of coral reefs. Therefore, in my opinion, we need to set up an interdisciplinary system which is directed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to draw national environment policies and strategies with the participation of other economic sectors as well as the scientific community.
