Bac Lieu (VNA) - The coastal forest area in the Mekong Delta provinceof Bac Lieu has declined in recent years because of climate change and improperfishing which has damaged protective mangrove trees. 

The province’s coastal mangrove forests play an important role in preventingerosion, which is often caused by strong waves and currents.

Many of the mangrove forest areas are taken care of by local residents who wereassigned by the province to protect the areas.

Despite this, the forest area fell from 4,200ha in 2000 to about 3,100ha, andthe quality has also deteriorated.

The province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked thePeople’s Committee to allocate a higher budget for forest protection and tobuild facilities for forest rangers.

It has also asked the committee to ease access to soft loans for householdsthat protect the forest.

Nearly 950 households make a living on catching aquatic species in mangroveforests. They include peanut worms, giant mudskippers, mud crabs, obtuse horn shell,shrimp and other fish species.

The catching of aquatic species has caused damage to the roots of mangrovetrees, causing many of them to die.

In addition, the breeding of aquatic species is often done without proper wastetreatment, polluting the environment.   

Rising sea levels, strong waves and high tides have also contributed to theloss of mangrove forests, especially in Bac Lieu city’s Vinh Thanh Dong communeand Nha Mat ward and Dong Hai district’s Ganh Hao town.

In 2005, the province zoned more than 2,000ha of alluvial grounds in coastalareas for mangrove forests.

However, only 413.5ha of the alluvial grounds remained in 2015 because oferosion, according to the Southern Academy of Forest Sciences.

With a coastline of 56 kilometres, the province plans to expand its coastalforest areas to 7,500ha by 2020.

To increase coastal forest areas, the province has taken many measures toprotect mangrove forests, including allocating mangrove forests for localresidents to protect and grow new forests.

About 400 households and organisations are protecting 3,100ha of the forests,according to the province’s Forest Protection Sub-department.

The province has implemented three projects to create alluvial grounds forgrowing mangrove forests along a total coastal length of 20 km.

The projects are in Hoa Binh district’s Vinh Hau and Vinh Thuan communes; DongHai district’s Long Dien Dong commune and Ganh Hao town; and Bac Lieu city’s NhaMat ward, and Hiep Thanh and Vinh Trach Dong communes.

The project in Bac Lieu city covers more than 200ha along 8km of coast. – VNA