TOPSHOT - This photo taken on May 17, 2023, shows workers picking up trash from Ha Long Bay in northeast Vietnam. More than seven million visitors came to visit the spectacular limestone karsts of Ha Long Bay, on Vietnam's northeastern coast, in 2022. Authorities hope that number will jump to eight and a half million this year. But the site's popularity, and the subsequent rapid growth of Ha Long City -- which is now home to a cable car, amusement park, luxury hotels and thousands of new homes -- severely damaged the ecosystem of the water. (Photo by Nam NGUYEN / AFP) / To go with 'VIETNAM-ENVIRONMENT-POLLUTION-TOURISM-PLASTIC', FOCUS by Alice PHILIPSON
SQUINTING in the bright light of a hot summer morning, Vu Thi Thinh perches on the edge of her small wooden boat and plucks a polystyrene block from the calm waters of Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay.
It’s not yet 9am, but a mound of styrofoam buoys, plastic bottles and beer cans sit behind her.
They are the most visible sign of the human impact that have degraded the Unesco World Heritage Site, famed for its brilliant turquoise waters dotted with towering rainforest-topped limestone islands.
“I feel very tired because I collect trash on the bay all day without much rest,” said Thinh, 50, who has been working for close to a decade as a trash picker.
Since the beginning of March, 10,000 cubic metres of rubbish – enough to fill four Olympic swimming pools – have been collected from the water, according to the Ha Long Bay management board.
The problem has been particularly acute over the past two months, as a scheme to replace styrofoam buoys at fish farms with sustainable alternatives backfired and fishermen chucked their polystyrene into the sea.
Authorities ordered 20 barges, eight boats and dozens of people to clean-up, state media said. Do Tien Thanh, a conservationist at the Ha Long Bay Management Department, said the buoys were a short-term issue but said: “Ha Long Bay ... is under pressure”.
More than seven million visitors came to visit the spectacular limestone karsts of Ha Long Bay, on Vietnam’s northeastern coast, in 2022.
Authorities hope that number will jump to eight and a half million. But the site’s popularity, and the rapid growth of Ha Long City – which is now home to a cable car, amusement park, luxury hotels and thousands of new homes – have damaged its ecosystem. Conservationists estimate there were originally around 234 types of coral in the bay – now the number is around half.
There have been signs of recovery in the past decade, with coral increasing and dolphins – pushed out of the bay a decade ago – coming back in small numbers, as a ban on fishing in parts of the site expanded their food source.
But the waste, both plastic and human, is still a huge concern.
“There are so many big residential areas near Ha Long Bay,” said conservationist Thanh.
“The domestic waste from these areas, if not dealt with properly, impacts the ecological system, which includes the coral reefs.
“Ha Long City can now handle just over 40% of its wastewater.”
Single-use plastic is now banned on tourist boats, and the Ha Long Bay management board says general plastic use on board is down 90% from its peak.
But trash generated onshore still lines parts of the beach, with rubbish collectors not able to block the eyesore from tourists.
Pham Van Tu, a local resident and freelance tour guide, said he had received a lot of complaints.
“They read in the media that Ha Long Bay is beautiful, but when they see floating trash, they don’t want to swim,” he said.
Rapid economic growth, urbanisation and changing lifestyles in communist Vietnam have led to a “plastic pollution crisis”, according to the World Bank.
A report in 2022 estimated 3.1 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated every year, with at least 10% leaking into the waterways, making Vietnam one of the top five plastic polluters of the world’s oceans.
The volume of leakage could more than double by 2030, the World Bank warns. — AFP
