Expectations for Bai Tu Long National Marine Reserve

Currently, the Management Board of Bai Tu Long National Park is carrying out procedures to consider recognizing the water surface area of the National Park as a marine reserve. Once recognized, this will be the first national marine reserve in Quang Ninh , contributing to removing bottlenecks in management work, thereby promoting biodiversity values associated with economic development, especially tourism activities.

The sea accounts for more than 60% of the area of Bai Tu Long National Park.

Bai Tu Long National Park has an area of 15,783 hectares, including 9,658 hectares of sea surface. This place concentrates typical ecosystems, such as coral reef ecosystems, seagrass ecosystems, tidal ecosystems, mangrove ecosystems, and mangrove ecosystems. In which, the mangrove ecosystem is assessed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the "most unique" on a regional scale, only Bai Tu Long National Park has it. According to the survey results of the Institute of Marine Resources and Environment, Bai Tu Long National Park currently has 1,220 marine species, of which 33 species are listed in the Red Book such as finless porpoises, green turtles, hawksbill turtles, sea cucumbers, etc. In 2015, implementing the project "Investing in equipment to improve scientific research capacity at Bai Tu Long National Park", the Park was invested in and equipped with many modern equipment, including diving equipment and seawater quality measuring devices. The park's staff also participated in training courses to improve their professional qualifications, diving skills, equipment usage, and thematic report writing. In 2024, Bai Tu Long National Park was approved to purchase 6 more motorboats to serve the protection and research of marine ecosystems. Thanks to the attention and investment of the province, the work of protecting biodiversity in general and marine biodiversity in particular at Bai Tu Long National Park has been highly effective. There are more and more research trips, surveys, and assessments of the current state of the environment and marine life being conducted, closely monitoring changes in the marine environment here. On average, each year, the park's staff conducts 15 biodiversity survey trips. In 2024, it is expected to carry out 29 investigations and surveys. Mr. Tran Hoai Nam, a researcher at the Department of Marine and Wetland Conservation, said: “Over the past years, thanks to the good work of protecting and conserving biodiversity, marine ecosystems in the National Park have been maintained stably and developed sustainably. Specifically: The coverage of coral reefs has basically remained the same and increased every year, the water quality is guaranteed to be suitable for the development conditions of aquatic species. With the characteristics of coral reef ecosystems near the water surface, diverse in species, many coral areas in Bai Tu Long National Park are very suitable for developing diving and coral viewing tourism using snorkeling. Currently, the Management Board of Bai Tu Long National Park has identified a number of locations that can develop this tourism activity.”

Marine and coral specimens are displayed at the Bai Tu Long National Park Biodiversity Museum.

Although the water surface area of Bai Tu Long National Park accounts for more than 60% of the park's area and is a unique biodiversity reserve, the management of this area lacks legal guidance. Mr. Pham Quoc Viet, Head of the Department of Science and International Cooperation, Bai Tu Long National Park Management Board, shared: "Bai Tu Long is one of the 7 national parks that have both land and sea areas in Vietnam. The National Park Management Board is basing on the Forestry Law 2017, the Biodiversity Law 2018 and a number of other related laws to manage and handle incidents arising on the island and mainland areas. However, because the sea area has not been recognized as a Marine Protected Area, the unit does not have a basis to apply related laws such as the Fisheries Law 2017 in the process of handling incidents and arising situations". "Decision 389/QD-TTg dated May 9, 2024 of the Prime Minister approving the Planning for the protection and exploitation of aquatic resources for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, classified Bai Tu Long Marine Protected Area into the List of Marine Protected Areas for the period 2021-2030. Based on this, Bai Tu Long National Park Management Board will consult with experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to unify the contents, submit to the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province for consideration to prepare a dossier to recognize Bai Tu Long National Park as a National Marine Protected Area" - Mr. Viet added. When recognized as a Marine Protected Area, the management bottleneck of Bai Tu Long National Park will be removed and create a basis for the unit to delimit, build subdivisions, and open the door to exploit tourism activities in the water surface area managed by the National Park. With the sea surface area, Bai Tu Long National Park Management Board is proposing 3 new tourist routes and an overnight stop for tourist boats.