Recently, millions of pieces of foam buoys and rafts of illegal aquaculture and seafood activities were thrown into the sea during the dismantling process, causing unprecedented marine environmental incidents in this world’s natural heritage.
Picking up each foam buoy has been Mr. V. V. Tan’s work since the last days of April when he was deployed to retrieve foam buoys and rafts drifting on Ha Long Bay.
Mr. Tan picks up 500-700 foam buoys every day, which seems like a lot, but in reality, it’s like salt in the tank compared to the number of foam buoys drifting on the bay. The sea surface appears to be scattered with a massive covering of foam buoys at numerous locations.
The number of foam buoys is large, making collection at sea challenging. Therefore, even though the collecting period had lasted a month, the surface of the bay was still white and spongy.
According to the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh Province, all coastal communities shall be responsible for collecting the number of foam buoys in the region while carefully restricting rubbish discharge into Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
Currently, about 7,000 m3 of floating foam buoys have been gathered in Ha Long Bay and are concentrated in the Ben Doan area before being processed.
The collection of all foam buoys in the bay must be completed by April 28, before the peak of tourist arrivals during the holiday.