Vietnam: Strange creatures invade the river

Vietnam has imported 41 exotic aquatic animals over the past 50 years. The Ministry of Fisheries survey found that 7 species need to be strictly monitored due to its harmful effects on ecological balance in Vietnam.

Yellow snails are eradicated by many methods but still multiply and destroy crops (Photo: VNN document)

41 species of strange aquatic animals have been imported into Vietnam for many different purposes. Among them, 32 species were imported for food production, there were 6 species imported as scenes but were . released naturally! Engineer Le Thiet Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Exploitation and Protection of Aquatic Resources (Ministry of Fisheries) stated above, based on the actual survey in 6 agricultural areas, together with dossiers of import of aquatic breeds. at the Ministry of Fisheries.

The survey showed that the Northern Delta is home to the most strange aquatic animals, with 34 species.

The most exotic aquatic animals imported into Vietnam are of most concern: White leg shrimp, Yellow snail, Mrigan, grass carp, Chinese white bighead, tilapia, catfish, freshwater white pomfret red belly, black tilapia, tilapia .

According to Mr. Binh, the majority of unknown aquatic animals are in the freshwater basin. There are 3 species of seawater: malaria, white leg shrimp and American whale. Most strange aquatic animals are fish. In addition, there are 4 species of invertebrates, 1 amphibian, 1 reptile and 1 animal. Currently, the State has banned the raising of 3 species because of their harmful effects on the environment: beaver, yellow snail and tiger fish.

The strange aquatic animals that have been imported, but due to many reasons, mainly due to inadequacies, have not met or very rarely met in Vietnam, such as Chinese sturgeon, school fish, small mouth American bass, European catfish, European eels.

Newly put on the black list of 7 species, prohibited 3 species

Dr. Le Thiet Binh said that the research results indicated that some strange aquatic animals after entering Vietnam have high economic value, especially white leg shrimp, tilapia, carp and spotted fish. grandmother, red belly white pomfret and red-eared turtle.

However, a preliminary assessment of 13 imported species to feed the remaining impacts (destroying the residence, destroying the food chain, competing for residence, genetic degradation due to delivery and carrying parasites. new germs, pathogens) have 5 good species, 2 bad species and the rest have not been identified as good or bad, including fish eating larvae, Catla fish, American croaker, Mrigan fish, tilapia, cow frog.

Mr. Binh said that the recent introduction of exotic aquatic animals has shown some negative effects on biodiversity in water bodies.

Tiger fish, one of the strange creatures entered into Vietnam for the previous scene.(Artwork: theamericanoutdoorsman)

Some native species become scarce due to their poor ability to compete for food and shelter than imported species such as Vietnamese white carp, Vietnamese drift fish, and Vietnamese carp. Some native species, such as catfish, have a mixed appearance.

To take measures to manage exotic aquatic species, it is recommended to assess and arrange them in White, Gray and Black categories (in which, White means strange aquatic animals to raise in wide area, relatively long time but almost no effect, Gray is a strange aquatic animal of unknown risk or there are different opinions, Black is the strange aquatic animals need measures Strict preventive measures to cancel, destroy, and apply preventive measures to prohibit import.

According to this division, Vietnam has 9 exotic aquatic species of White, 25 Gray and 7 Black species. Thus, there are 7 strange aquatic animals that need to be strictly controlled, such as yellow snail, spiny fish, European catfish, tiger fish, red-eared tortoise, Cuban crocodile, and beaver mouse.

So far, our country has banned 3 species of beaver rats, yellow snail and tiger fish (Pygocentrus nattereri).

The danger from invasive strange creatures

The infiltration of foreign organisms into Vietnam Many countries in the world have cost millions of dollars to prevent and destroy strange species from entering their territory, threatening epidemics, destroying the background. agricultural production, breaking the land use structure .

In our country, the invasion of strange organisms, especially newly invasive species, is still at a large level, but there is a potential for development that directly affects agricultural production.The following initial manifestations can be indicated: Yellow snail (Pila Sinensis), this species was imported into our country for more than 10 years, with very fast fertility and mainly rice leaves. Therefore, it has caused a major epidemic of rice destruction in many Mekong Delta provinces and is developing gradually in the Central and Northern provinces.

Strange invasive organisms, concerns of environmentalists
(Photo: Department of Environmental Protection)

This epidemic not only reduces the local rice production, but every year the State has to spend hundreds of millions of VND to destroy this snail, but has not yielded the desired results.In 1996, it was discovered that traders imported an insect to make food for birds, that is Tenebrio monitor, this insect belongs to a multi-purpose group capable of harming many kinds of agricultural products so it was timely prohibition.

Also in the 1996-1998 period, the aquarium fish appeared as pirana, also known as diamond fish, toothed fish - the scientific name is Serralmus nattereri. This is a fish originating from the Amazone basin (South America), carnivorous and aggressive. Many countries have strict rules for importing this species. If this species comes out to live in the natural environment, it will destroy all aquatic animals, then it is difficult to predict all the economic losses of aquatic products and at the same time endanger human life. Therefore, the Ministry of Fisheries has instructed to prohibit the import and development of this fish.

In the Mekong Delta, the Plain of Reeds, U Minh Melaleuca forest is developing a species of Virgin (Momosa), a native of Central America.The process of multiple sources of introduction has infiltrated Africa, Asia, and Australia and is particularly suitable for development in tropical and wetlands.This is one of 100 strange creatures that are classified by the World Union for Nature Protection (IUCN) in a large scale of the world.This is a species that has a very strong ability to reproduce by both wind-blown and asexual reproduction from stem segments.The dense development of this plant has prevented the seeds of native species from coming into contact with the soil, gradually the native plants cannot be regenerated and the native ecosystem is also destroyed.

(According to documents of the Department of Environmental Protection)