Ministry of Natural Resources requests 4 central provinces to maintain marine environmental monitoring

Four central provinces affected by the marine environmental incident are required to periodically report monitoring results to the General Department of Environment for publication in the media.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has just sent an official dispatch requesting the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue to direct relevant units to seriously implement the regime of periodically reporting the results of monitoring the current status of marine environmental quality.

The document clearly stated that the concentration of pollutants in the marine environment from the incident caused by Formosa Ha Tinh Company has decreased over time. On August 22, 2016, the Ministry of Natural Resources announced the current status of the marine environment in 4 central provinces, according to which the residual evolution in the iron colloidal film in the monitored areas was within the prescribed limits for beaches, water sports, aquaculture, etc.

The marine environmental incident caused by Formosa Company has caused heavy damage to coastal tourism in the Central region. Photo: Duc Hung

At the time of publication in August 2016, there were still 3 areas affected by local eddies, with some parameters in the seawater higher than other areas, including Son Duong (Ha Tinh), Nhat Le (Quang Binh), Son Cha (Thua Thien - Hue).

In September, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment conducted a supplementary assessment, and the results showed that seawater and bottom sediments in these areas were stable, with no higher values ​​than elsewhere. Fishing, aquaculture, tourism, and swimming activities could proceed normally.

From these results, the Ministry requested the above 4 provinces to promptly inform localities and direct relevant units to implement a regime of periodically reporting monitoring results to the General Department of Environment for publication in the media.

The mass fish deaths started in April from some fish cages near the Vung Ang Industrial Zone (Ha Tinh), then spread to Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue. At the end of June 2016, Formosa Ha Tinh admitted to discharging untreated waste into the sea, causing mass fish deaths, and paid 500 million USD in compensation.

According to VNE