Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha has confirmed that to date, the sea environment in four central provinces from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue is safe.

The ministry in co-ordination with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the provincial People's Committee of Quang Tri, and relevant ministries, agencies and localities, organised a conference to assess the results of marine environment in the four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, which suffered mass fish deaths in April.

Speaking at the event, Minister Ha said the programme evaluating the extent of environmental pollution has been in progress since June on the waters in four provinces from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue. The results have been adopted in the appraisal by the board established by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) with the participation of experts and scientists from relevant ministries and agencies.

Accordingly, the assessment of sea water quality based on analysing 1,080 samples (in May), 331 samples (in June) and 68 samples (in August), comparing with Vietnam’s regulations, shows that contents of iron, phenol and cyanide in the seawater, considered the major cause of environmental incident, are mostly within allowable limits.

 The MoNRE will also continue to closely monitor waste discharged by Formosa Ha Tinh as well as other industrial projects, production, business and service establishments in coastal areas, build a hi-tech database on supervising and warnings on sea environment pollution while mobilising public involvement in the effort...

In late June, Formosa Ha Tinh accepted responsibility for the mass fish deaths. The pollution damaged about 400 ha of coral and affected over 260,000 people who earn their living by working in sea-related activities.

The company pledged to provide compensation of over VND11.5 trillion (US$500 million), which will be used to support local fishermen in changing their jobs and restoring the polluted maritime environment. It also vowed to deal with shortcomings and limitations in waste and wastewater treatment.