Environment
Mass fish deaths pollute Quang Binh beaches
  • | dtinews.vn, Tienphong | April 22, 2016 09:26 PM
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Tourism officials in the central province of Quang Binh have expressed worry over the mass deaths of fish  which are badly affecting the local tourism industry.


Dead fish on Nhat Le Beach in Quang Binh Province

Deputy director of Quang Binh Province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Van Ky, warned that tourism will suffer along with the fish if no proper measures are taken to discover the cause of ecological disaster.

"The beaches and seafood are key products in the central region, including in Quang Binh Province," Ky said. "Now the local beaches are full of dead fish, how can we attract tourists?"

Ky complained about the slow action by local authorities in dealing with the problem. "The fish have been dying for two weeks now, yet no official reasons have been found," he noted. "We've only received a document which tells us not to serve these dead fish to tourists."

Although the tourism season has already started, most of the beaches around Dong Hoi City are still almost empty.

Head of the rescue team in Bao Ninh Beach, Le Minh Tu, said that the beach was normally very crowded by this time in previous years.

"The smell of rotting fish have driven all the visitors away," Tu said. "Some people still decided to swim here several days ago but then said they felt itchy all over."

Tu said that fish started to die on Bao Ninh Beach on April 9 and the number of dead fish has continued to rise.

"Environment workers have been collecting half a tonne of dead fish here every day over the past two weeks," he said. "The fish must be dying of contaminated water. I also find that the water colour here has become very different, not clear blue as before."

Many seafood restaurants lying around Bao Ninh Beach are also facing hard times as the number of customers has dropped sharply since the fish died.

At the Quang Truong restaurant customers are preferring chicken and beef to seafood.


Quang Truong Restaurant and many seafood restaurants in Dong Hoi City are very quiet right in the tourism season this year

The restaurant owner, Nguyen Tuan Khang said that no customers dare to eat fish at this time, despite the restaurant showing them live fish and promising that they were taken from other places.

Several nearby restaurants which had no customers were building ponds to raise fish.

According to Quang Binh Tourism Association, most of the hotels in the province have been fully booked on the Reunification Day and May Day Holiday. However, many customers have been calling up to express concerns about the problem.

Thousands of fish along the coast in the four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang  Tri and Thua Thien-Hue have died en mass over the past two weeks. Although local authorities haven't announced the cause of the problem, the finger of blame is being pointed at the untreated waste water from the Vung Ang Industrial Zone.

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