At about 3:00 pm on September 22, 2023, while fishing in the Ha Mai to Dau Trau area of the Co To Sea, fishermen discovered a group of whales swimming on the surface. Previously, at noon on August 21, a sea turtle weighing about 20kg rose to the surface on Co To Island. In November 2022, a dolphin appeared for many hours in the area near Cang Bridge, Nam Hai Beach, Co To Town.
The appearance of sea turtles, dolphins, and whales in Co To waters is a very good sign, showing the improvements to local ecosystem and marine environment. Sea turtles, dolphins, and whales are marine species that seek clean sandy beaches for breeding or find deep and clean water with many young fish for food.
Like Co To, the environment and resources in Hai Ha waters are protected, attracting the regular appearance of herds of dolphins. On November 5, about 4-5 dolphins swam in the waters near Hon Mieu Island, in the island commune of Cai Chien. According to Cai Chien people, the dolphins were not afraid of people and the presence of human production activities did not seem to affect them.
To achieve the significant environmental and marine resource improvements, Co To District and Hai Ha District have strengthened aquaculture management according to planning. The two districts also directed the local people to use standard floating materials instead of foam buoys and encouraged fishermen to convert fishing vessels from small to large and from inshore to offshore exploitation. The two localities have also been taking drastic measures in handling destructive fishing practices and resolutely punishing fishermen who use banned fishing gear to exploit marine products.
Coastal localities throughout the province also focus on implementing solutions to preserve the marine environment and regenerate aquatic resources. In 2018, Quang Ninh Province issued Directive No. 18 on strengthening the protection of aquatic resources. To date, over 700 documents have been issued, directing relevant agencies and functional forces to carry out solutions on exploiting and protecting maritime resources.
The whole province has organised more than 21,300 communication events to disseminate regulations on the exploitation and protection of aquatic resources to over 405,000 people. More than 1,000 news reports and 532,980 printed documents have been released on the protection of aquatic resources. The province has also signed 4,009 agreements with the owners of fishing ships and fishing gear enterprises on not violating aquatic resources.
Violations of aquatic resources exploitation and protection have been strictly handled. Since 2018, the provincial border forces have organised regular sea patrol with the participation of 10,550 soldiers, while the Ha Long Bay Management Board has also held 441 inspections and Dam Ha District has organised 225 inspections of its seawaters. The province’s hotline for protecting aquatic resources has received a total of 628 calls. From 2018 to October 30, 2023, the whole province detected and sanctioned over 9,000 violations of the exploitation and protection of aquatic resources, collecting over 57.8 billion VND to contribute to the State budget.
According to statistics from the Quang Ninh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, since September 2017, the province has released over 35.5 million shrimp, crab, and fish seeds into the natural environment. In recent years, functional units and localities have implemented projects on protecting sa sung (peanut worm) areas in the two communes of Minh Chau (Van Don District) and Dai Binh (Dam Ha District) with a scale of 1,000ha, along with projects on restoring coral ecosystems and implementing a community management model in the Co To Archipelago and the core area of Ha Long Bay.
With enormous efforts in protecting the marine environment and resources, Quang Ninh’s waters have become clean, beautiful, and rich in resources. This is an important condition for Quang Ninh to develop a sustainable marine economy, including marine exploitation, aquaculture, and tourism activities.
