Vietnam marine ecosystem is seriously degraded

According to the Vietnam General Department of Sea and Islands, most of the coastal ecosystems of our country are seriously degraded due to overexploitation and heavy threats by pollutants. waste, sediment deposition and pollution of oil spills.

Marine environment is heavily polluted due to waste from industrial, agricultural and aquacultural activities, domestic waste. So the quality of sediments, seabed is the habitat of many benthic species also polluted excessively in accordance with most international standards . Therefore, it is necessary to deploy synchronous solutions to protect protect and sustainably develop this ecosystem.

Currently 62% of the total area of ​​mangroves nationwide is new, pure, poor quality forests in terms of size, tree height and diversity of species composition. Natural mangrove forests are almost no longer available. The degradation is most clearly reflected in the rapid decline in the area and quality of mangrove forests.

Specifically, in 1943, Vietnam had more than 408,500 hectares of mangrove forest, and in 2006, it was only 209,741 hectares and mainly newly planted forests. Loss of mangroves is the loss of spawning grounds of aquatic species, loss of migratory habitats of waterfowl, anti-alum function, preventing coastal erosion and limiting the effects of floods and storms, tides strong.

In 2001, the area of ​​distribution of Vietnam's marine coral reef was about 110,000 ha, but according to the survey data of the Institute of Marine Environment and Resources, currently only 14,130 ha. The survey results in 7 key coral areas indicate that only 2.9% of the area is assessed to be in good growth conditions; 11.6% are in good condition, while 44.9% are in bad and very bad condition.

Coral reefs in the area around Co To-Quang Ninh Island are considered to be very well developed, the coverage rate is 60-80%, 100% available. But recently the coral reefs in this area are almost completely dead. The cause of death by coral reef fishermen by toxic chemicals Xianua from 2002-2006, causing mass death of coral at this time.

Particularly, seagrass ecosystem is considered an ecosystem with high biological productivity and a source of food for seafood species. The number of species residing in the seagrass area is usually 2 to 8 times higher than the outer sea. Five years ago, Vietnam's coastal sea grass area still reached 12,380 hectares, mainly belonging to the coast of Phu Quoc Island - Kien Giang.

But like coral reefs, seagrasses are losing area, partly due to natural disasters, partly due to encroaching on the sea to build works and lagoon, aquaculture ponds. So far, the coverage of seagrass in many areas has decreased by half the area compared to 2007.