Visiting Thi Nai Lagoon, pondering over Con Chim Island...

Thi Nai Lagoon, a renowned ecological area in Binh Dinh province, covers 5060 hectares and receives water from the Kon and Ha Thanh river systems. Located in a transitional zone between the marine and terrestrial environments, Thi Nai Lagoon boasts a diverse mangrove forest and extensive seagrass beds, creating habitats, feeding grounds, breeding areas, and nurseries for many valuable aquatic species, resulting in high biodiversity. The lagoon's ecosystem is rich and varied, home to 119 fish species, 14 shrimp species, and dozens of other valuable aquatic species.

Nestled amidst a vast lagoon and endless mangrove forests lies the 480-hectare Con Chim Ecological Zone. Above the mangrove canopy is a habitat for a diverse population of endemic bird species, including egrets and herons, as well as migratory birds that come seasonally. This area is considered the "green lung" of Tuy Phuoc district and Quy Nhon city.

A particularly interesting feature nestled amidst the lush greenery of the ecological zone is the "oasis" of Con Chim. Con Chim hamlet belongs to Vinh Quang 2 village, Phuoc Son commune, Tuy Phuoc district. The hamlet is home to 230 households with 1,130 fishermen whose livelihoods depend entirely on Thi Nai lagoon through fishing and aquaculture activities.

Ideally, in a place blessed by nature and where people live carefree lives, the ecological environment should be strictly protected. Unfortunately, during a survey trip to Thi Nai Lagoon last July, as our boat docked at Con Chim hamlet, we were confronted with a garbage dump filled with all kinds of plastic bags, plastic containers, styrofoam boxes… and dead fish floating on the water's surface. Even just looking at it aesthetically was unsettling, not to mention the environmental pollution and its impact on aquatic resources. The man we met was trying to scoop up the dead fish and garbage from the pond. He is Nguyen Thai Hoang, who owns a 3.2-hectare pond for raising shrimp, fish, and crabs. Mr. Hoang shared that for the past five years, aquaculture activities in Thi Nai Lagoon have been very unstable due to frequent disease outbreaks, possibly caused by water pollution.

We shared our concerns about waste with the head of Con Chim hamlet, Ho Van Nhan, who said: “Household waste from residents on Con Chim is currently not collected or processed and is often dumped into the lagoon. In addition, waste from residents in the surrounding communes is also dumped into the lagoon. When the tide rises and falls, the waste is carried by the current and wind to empty areas on Con Chim. District and provincial leaders have requested thorough waste management on Con Chim, but the problem is: a designated area within the hamlet is needed for waste collection, followed by incineration or transport to the mainland. With the current amount of waste in Con Chim, collection is needed at least three times a week, while the road leading to Con Chim is narrow, and there is no spacious waste collection area. Furthermore, the cost of collecting and transporting waste by boat to the mainland for processing is quite high.”

Con Chim Ecological Zone has a diverse and rich ecosystem that needs to be preserved and developed. Photo: Nguyen Dung

Over 30 years ago, the natural mangrove forest in Thi Nai Lagoon covered nearly 500 hectares, but limited livelihood needs led to its reduction to only 50 hectares by 2005. Humans ruthlessly cut down the forest to create shrimp ponds, altering the lagoon's ecosystem, causing a loss of biodiversity, and significantly reducing the number of bird species that inhabited the area. Recently, Binh Dinh province has implemented a project to rationally utilize the Con Chim area, planting 80 hectares of concentrated mangrove forest and scattered planting around 500-600 hectares of shrimp ponds. Destroying is easy, but planting is difficult. The environmental consequences of such brutal intervention in nature serve as a lesson that each of us must remember: livelihood creation must be in harmony with nature.

Returning to the challenging issue of waste disposal at Con Chim Island, in my opinion, handling household waste there is not too difficult if the local authorities and the fishing community are truly determined. The immediate goal is to stop the dumping of household waste from Con Chim Island into Thi Nai Lagoon. There are no landfills here, and incineration would cause pollution. Con Chim Island is only about 500 meters from the mainland (Vinh Quang 2 wharf), so transporting waste to the mainland for processing is the optimal solution.

However, the problem is the need to minimize the amount of household waste generated. Therefore, the people of Con Chim Island can learn from the zero-waste approach that has been successfully implemented in many places such as Cu Lao Cham (Quang Nam), Con Son ( Can Tho )... Effective waste treatment methods that can be applied include sorting waste at source, recycling (collecting scrap metal, etc.); reusing (making compost, dishwashing liquid for food waste and organic waste); and compressing non-biodegradable waste into small lumps/cakes.

The waste collection area is not too large, about 20-30 square meters (it can be expanded with sand filling), with a separate area for collecting recyclable waste, non-biodegradable waste, and hazardous waste. This amount of waste can be collected once a week. Regarding the waste collection team, about 2 local workers with 2 small garbage trucks are needed to collect waste in the alleys of the hamlet (10 garbage bins will be placed in the alleyways). For waste transfer, the locality needs to invest in a specialized garbage boat. From what I understand, buying a used wooden boat currently costs no more than 25 million VND but is of fairly good quality. Thus, all initial investment costs for 2 small garbage collection trucks, 10 garbage bins, and a garbage transfer boat will not exceed 60 million VND. The households in Con Chim hamlet are responsible for paying for waste collection. That money will be used to pay for 3 workers who collect and transport garbage in Con Chim hamlet. The remaining amount will be covered from the local budget.

Furthermore, a key and long-term goal that the local authorities need to focus on is changing the mindset of local governance, leveraging the "internal strength" of the fishing community in Con Chim hamlet. This includes promoting awareness campaigns and enacting local regulations to reduce waste, especially plastic waste, and moving towards eliminating the use of single-use plastic products. Raising community awareness to protect mangrove forests and the environment will promote community-based tourism , green accommodation, birdwatching tours, near-shore fishing, bivalve mollusk farming, and environmentally friendly integrated aquaculture, thereby increasing income for local people, gradually eliminating harmful fishing practices, and developing sustainable livelihoods. It can be said that whether Con Chim is a vast green forest with abundant aquatic resources or a polluted and disease-ridden "Garbage Island" depends entirely on the choices made by the people on this "island".

The story of Con Chim Island is a prime example of the reality of plastic waste dumping into the sea in Vietnam. According to statistics, 80% of Vietnam's marine waste originates from land-based activities. Each year, Vietnam releases 1.8 million tons of plastic into the environment, of which approximately 730,000 tons end up in the sea, ranking fourth in the world for plastic waste discharge. People often don't think about the consequences until the rainy season, when residents in coastal areas across the country face the prospect of living amidst foul-smelling, polluted open-air garbage dumps that pose a significant risk of disease outbreaks due to waste being washed ashore by the waves.

In the Quy Nhon Bay area, community organizations are working tirelessly to protect the environment and coral reef ecosystem. Community-based natural resource management and environmental protection models are essential and need to be replicated and implemented, not only in Binh Dinh but nationwide.

Ai Trinh - Address: Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department, 110 Tran Hung Dao Street, Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province

Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/ghe-dam-thi-nai-tran-tro-con-chim-361863.html