Solving environmental problems after storms in Ha Long Bay

After storm No. 3, the widespread floating waste from aquaculture materials in Ha Long Bay is perhaps the most serious environmental problem for this heritage ever. The remediation takes a lot of effort and time, requiring more effective solutions in the long term, not only to preserve the environment but also to restore the beauty and cleanliness needed for the heritage landscape when this place is a tourist destination all year round, especially international visitors.

After Typhoon Yagi, many aquaculture rafts were destroyed and drifted on Ha Long Bay. *Photo provided by Ha Long Bay Management Board.*

Typhoon No. 3 (Yagi) made landfall in the seas of Quang Ninh, with its terrible destructive power, destroying a series of aquaculture cages, causing a large number of these cages to break and drift everywhere, creating a huge amount of garbage on the water surface of many localities, including the Ha Long Bay heritage area. After the storm, it was easy to see large cages, aquaculture equipment floating or drifting to the foot of islands and coastal areas. Not only that, many of these materials were also hit by waves and blown by wind into dangerous locations on the rocky islands, making the cleanup work even more difficult and costly in terms of manpower.

Join hands to clean up heritage

According to information from the Ha Long Bay Management Board, in order to quickly overcome the disaster after the storm and soon welcome visitors back, immediately after the storm, the unit issued plans to organize a peak period of garbage collection on the bay, requesting garbage collection contractors to add more vehicles to collect and transport garbage on Ha Long Bay and increase the means of loading and transporting garbage at Ben Doan port to the collection point for treatment. At the same time, the unit also sent documents to the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, organizations and individuals operating services and tourism on the bay to request coordination in collecting garbage, cleaning Ha Long Bay, supporting the towing of garbage rafts to the collection point; sent documents to related localities (Ha Long, Cam Pha, Van Don, Quang Yen) to request strengthening garbage collection, implementing general environmental sanitation, and overcoming the consequences after the storm.

Cruise ships help pull rafts and foam buoys floating on the bay to clean up the heritage.

To increase human resources to join hands in cleaning up the heritage after the storm, Ha Long Bay Management Board has mobilized maximum human resources, equipment, and means of the unit and agencies, organizations, and communities, such as: Border Guard Command, Provincial Military Command, Provincial Police, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, organizations, individuals operating tourism services on the bay and volunteers to join in collecting trash and picking up trash on the foot of Ha Long Bay islands.

According to the unit's statistics, from September 14-25 alone, 1,209 human resources and 334 vehicles were mobilized to continuously collect floating foam buoys and bamboo rafts, and at the same time collect foam buoys and rafts drifting to the foot of islands and sandbanks on Ha Long Bay. Thanks to that, tourist attractions on Ha Long Bay were quickly cleaned and sanitized to ensure welcoming tourists. A large amount of floating waste in the waters, foot of islands at routes and tourist attractions was collected and treated.

The peak garbage collection campaign from September 14-25 mentioned above and then continued to be strengthened until October 15, the unit mobilized a total of 2,107 personnel, 529 vehicles, collected 1,563m3 of garbage and 410 bamboo rafts. In addition, it is necessary to mention the joint efforts to collect garbage along the shore in campaigns to mobilize the participation of neighboring localities, or of tourists themselves participating in cleaning up the world natural heritage of Ha Long Bay...

Collecting trash in the bay after the storm requires the cooperation of many forces. *Photo provided by Ha Long Bay Management Board.*

How to handle it thoroughly?

However, the amount of garbage after the storm in the bay is still very large, because the collection in the past time focused more on the main tourist attractions here. Ha Long Bay has a large area, many rocky islands, and complex hydrometeorological conditions, which also cause great difficulties in the thorough collection of this waste. According to the assessment of the Ha Long Bay Management Board, now that the storm has passed for nearly a month, the coastal areas, especially in the Tuan Chau - Dai Yen area, Quang Yen area, still have a large amount of waste, bamboo rafts for aquaculture, with the potential risk of spreading waste to the Ha Long Bay heritage area.

Therefore, in the coming time, Ha Long Bay Management Board will continue to increase human resources, equipment and means to collect waste generated by the impact of storm No. 3 as well as other types of waste in the bay to clean up waste at tourist attractions and the entire Ha Long Bay heritage area.

The Board will also strengthen patrols and environmental monitoring in the above areas and along the bay's shore to promptly detect and coordinate the handling of violations, areas, and waste collection points for collection and treatment. At the same time, continue to coordinate with related localities such as the People's Committees of Ha Long City, Cam Pha, Quang Yen Town, and Van Don District to thoroughly handle the amount of waste accumulated after the storm in the coastal areas, in order to prevent these waste sources from continuing to spread to Ha Long Bay...

Garbage collection in Ha Long Bay has been done manually in the past.

However, it is worth mentioning that, in the past, garbage collection in Ha Long Bay was done manually, mainly relying on human power, while the means and equipment for garbage collection were very simple and small, which also affected the efficiency of this work. Ha Long Bay is a natural heritage, also the most attractive tourist destination in the world, bringing in revenue of up to thousands of billions of VND annually. Therefore, it is thought that the purchase of specialized, modern means as well as more innovative solutions to thoroughly handle environmental problems, including the problem of floating waste in the bay, should soon be given due attention, research and investment.

Along with that, Quang Ninh also needs to have stricter regulations for aquaculture facilities. Experts need to help fishermen research the exploitation and use of suitable materials in aquaculture, ensuring good resistance to storms or easy movement to safe areas when there are storms, while ensuring sustainability, environmental friendliness or the ability to reuse many times. Only then can fishermen minimize risks and damage from natural disasters, as well as limit impacts, avoid environmental incidents like the current one, which harm the marine environment in general, including Ha Long Bay heritage in particular.

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