The Vietnam Fisheries Association has urged the government and concerned ministries to speed up the investigation into the recent mass fish deaths in the central region.

The association sent a document to the government and ministries of Natural Resources and Environment; Science and Technology; Agriculture and Rural Development and Finance calling on them to hasten the investigation.

According to the association, the longer the investigation is, the more diluted the toxic chemicals suspected to be contained at sea-bed sediments will become, affecting the accuracy of the results.

If the investigation is too slow, the samples of dead fish which have been kept at labs since early April will no longer be useful.

Dead fish on a beach in Quang Binh Province

The association chairman Pham Viet Thang said that the investigation result should be announced as soon as possible to ease public concerns.

Thang added that the association has supported families in the four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua-Thien Hue and Quang Tri with 15 kilos of rice per person per month for one and a half months. The households have also been offered loans of preferential interest rates.

The association has recommended direct assistance from the government and concerned agencies be provided to affected fishing households until the investigation results are announced to help ease their loss.

According to the association, people who caused the disaster will have to face very strict punishments in line with Vietnamese law. They are also demanding compensation for both the Vietnamese government and affected fishermen.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other agencies have been told to tighten control over waste discharged into the environment, particularly from factories and production facilities.

Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference in Hanoi on May 25, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Linh Ngoc claimed that the ministry would provide the conclusion based on scientific evidence and they were not trying to hide the cause of the case.