HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Regionalcooperation to preserve the marine environment and ensure sustainable fisheriesmanagement and food security in the ASEAN region will be the focus ofdiscussion at an international workshop to be held in Nha Trang in the centralprovince of Khanh Hoa from May 13-15.

The event will highlight the effect of marine plastic pollution on aquacultureand coastal and regional fisheries. International delegates will discusschallenges, best practices and opportunities for cooperation to preserve themarine environment and ensure long-lasting sustainable fisheries management andfood security in the region.

More than 90 representatives from the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) are expectedto attend the workshop, co-chaired by the governments of Vietnam, the US andThailand, as approved by the 25th ARF Ministerial Meeting in Singapore lastAugust.

Key environmental ministries and institutes, regional fisheries managementorganisations, Global Ghost Gear Initiatives, non-governmental organisationsand think tanks are encouraged to take part.

Plastic pollution is now the most dangerous pollution in the world’s ocean,according to the US Consulate in HCM City. 

Marine plastic debris becomes entangled in abandoned nets, and fish ingestplastic pieces by mistaking them for food. Microplastics that enter throughfilter feeding are also ingested by fish and other marine life, the consulatesaid. 

Plastic debris is often contaminated with other chemicals, which can infiltrateinto the tissues of marine animals. Toxic concentrations can increase inmarine animals, from the bottom of the food web (zooplankton) to the largestpredators at the top of the food web, such as billfish or tuna, and then may bedangerous for humans who eat seafood. 

The plastic debris can also transport invasive species, causing changes inspecies composition or even extinction of other species in ecologicalsystems. 

Approximately 12 percent of the world’s population relies upon fisheries andaquaculture for their livelihood, while over half of the world’s people get asignificant source of their animal protein from fish and seafood, according tothe US Consulate. 

In Southeast Asia, the proportion of people engaged in and dependent upon thissector for their livelihood and nutritional security is even higher.

Marine plastic pollution crosses national boundaries and poses a regionalsecurity problem that is impossible to solve without regionalcooperation. 

Addressing marine pollution in Southeast Asia requires effective domesticpolicies and legislation to manage resources within each country’s exclusiveeconomic zone, and cooperation to ensure that one nation’s waste does notimpact its neighbours. 

Both ASEAN and the East Asia Summit are working on a regional action plan on marinedebris. In addition, the UN Environment Programme is funding a similarregional action plan through the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia,which is the UN Regional Seas programme for the region. 

The ASEAN Conference on Reducing Marine Debris in ASEAN Region, hosted byThailand in 2017, created positive momentum for continuing the discussion andpromoting opportunities for regional cooperation. 

The summary report noted the “urgent need for a collective and coordinatedaction among ASEAN Member States and partners to address the marine debrispollution in the region” due to the transboundary nature of the issue. 

The East Asia Summit plans to issue a Leader’s Statement on marine plasticdebris that was created in November. 

Southeast Asia’s marine environment and fisheries are a vast and valuableresource, and sustainable management is imperative to ensure food, economic,social, and environmental security of each country as well as the region as awhole.-VNS/VNA