Hon Cau Marine Reserve will have an area of more than 16,000 hectares after adjustment.

This is one of the contents that is of great interest to media agencies inside and outside the province at the October 2023 press conference organized by the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department this afternoon (October 31).

At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc - Deputy Director of the Hon Cau Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management Board informed about the implementation process of the Project "Review and adjustment of functional zoning and boundaries of Hon Cau MPA, Binh Thuan province". Up to now, the Project to adjust the boundaries and area of Hon Cau MPA has been unanimously approved by the Provincial Appraisal Council and has been commented on by the Provincial People's Committee and the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee. Based on the conclusion of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee in the Conclusion Notice No. 609-TB/VPTU dated October 23, 2023, the Hon Cau MPA Management Board is finalizing the Project to submit to the Provincial People's Committee to send for comments from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development according to the prescribed process and procedures.

It is known that Hon Cau NKTB was established by Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee in 2010 and operates under the Operation Management Regulation No. 42/2012/QD-UBND dated October 17, 2012 of the Provincial People's Committee. This is a provincial-level species-habitat conservation area with a total area of 12,500 hectares; located in 3 communes of Phuoc The, Vinh Hao, Vinh Tan, Tuy Phong district; divided into 4 functional zones including: Strictly protected zone (core zone), buffer zone, ecological restoration zone and development zone. The goal of Hon Cau NKTB is to protect marine resources, protect biodiversity, protect habitats of living organisms, protect the environment, develop the economy and ecotourism, manage and sustainably use marine resources.

After more than 10 years of operation, in the context of strong development of local socio-economic sectors, especially Vinh Tan Power Center and Vinh Tan International Port, which are key economic projects of the Central and the province, there is an overlap in the waters of the marine reserve. This not only greatly affects the function of the reserve, making it difficult to meet the proposed conservation goals, but also affects the implementation of the above projects in this area. In addition, the assessment of the operational efficiency of the Marine Reserve after 10 years of operation to make appropriate adjustments in management work, towards sustainable development has not been carried out.

According to the Project, after adjustment, Hon Cau NKTB will have an area of 16,607.5 hectares (16,467.5 hectares of sea and 140 hectares of land). Specifically, the strictly protected subdivision has an area of 1,523.5 hectares, including 1,384.5 hectares of sea and 139 hectares of land on Hon Cau Island; the ecological restoration subdivision has an area of 963.7 hectares of sea; the service - administrative subdivision has an area of 14,120.3 hectares, including 4,119.3 hectares of sea and 1 hectare of land on Hon Cau Island. The buffer zone of Hon Cau NKTB will have a sea area of 1,356 hectares.

After adjustment, Hon Cau will have an area of more than 16,000 hectares.

According to the plan, Hon Cau NKTB is adjusted from 4 functional zones (core zone, buffer zone, ecological restoration zone and development zone) as approved in Decision No. 2606/QD-UBND dated November 15, 2010 of the Provincial People's Committee into 3 functional sub-zones (strictly protected sub-zone; ecological restoration sub-zone; administrative service sub-zone) and buffer zone according to new regulations in Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP dated March 8, 2019 of the Government. In particular, in addition to continuing to maintain the status quo or adjusting the strictly protected zones at Brenda Shoal, Hon Cau and the coastal ecological restoration zone of Vinh Tan commune, the Project has established two new ecological restoration zones in the coastal waters of Phuoc The commune and Binh Thanh commune to preserve and protect biodiversity and resources, especially to preserve, protect and promote the landscape of the moss beach and the seven-color stone beach, contributing to promoting the development of ecotourism associated with the scenic relic of Co Thach pagoda.

Hon Cau landscape has many historical values.

Hon Cau Marine Protected Area is one of 16 Marine Protected Areas of Vietnam, not only beautiful in natural landscape but also highly appreciated for its biodiversity, showing the diversity of aquatic organisms, benthic animals, seaweed, seagrass, corals, fish, invertebrates, mammals, birds, reptiles, sea turtles... Hon Cau is assessed by researchers to have an extremely important position, being a large fishing ground of Vietnam.

Mr. Van

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