In 2019, together with the provinces affected by the Formosa marine environmental incident, the Thua Thien – Hue Province Aquatic Ecosystem and Aquatic Resource Restoration and Regeneration Project was approved with a total investment of VND 170 billion. The project is being invested by Thua Thien – Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hue.

The project consists of 2 components including release of artificial coral reefs with a total investment of VND150 billion and planting and restoration of coral reefs with a total investment of VND20 billion.

The project aims to create artificial habitats for aquatic species and minimize the impact of bottom trawling on young fisheries in order to restore aquatic resources. Restoring the ecosystem that is the habitat of aquatic species and regenerating aquatic resources.

Accordingly, the project will release 114 reef clusters over a length of 2 km with 2,850 artificial reefs cast from reinforced concrete, spaced 220 m apart. In addition to the clusters, 2,350 hollow, cube-shaped artificial reefs will be released, while hemispherical reefs will be exposed inside to provide shelter and growth for aquatic and marine species.

The artificial reef stocking component is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with an area of ​​300ha, the artificial reef bed cover is about 1%~1.5%; The reef drop area is located about 9km off the coast of Vinh My Township (Phu Loc District) and has an average depth of 22-24m.

For the coral reef planting and restoration component, the selected site for deployment is Song Rong Cau Sea Area, Bai Chuoi, Son Cha – Hai Van Area (Phu Loc District), covering an area of ​​16-18 ha.

The objects of restoration are hard corals, giving priority to some native species from the order of hard corals (scientific name Scleractinia). The species prioritized for planting in the Thua Thien – Hue area are obtained from the sea of ​​Son Tra (Da Nang City), Cu Lao Cham (Quang Nam Province).

In recent years, the waters of Thua Thien – Hue province have been affected by fishing and seafood activities, particularly the Formosa marine environmental incident, which has resulted in a serious decline. The implementation of the project will contribute to the regeneration of aquatic ecosystems and local aquatic resources, and help fishermen improve the economic efficiency of marine fisheries.

However, after 3 years of implementation with many good goals, the project is almost “stagnating”. After it was extended by the Prime Minister until December 2022 and still not completed, the Thua Thien – Hue Provincial People’s Committee continues to request postponement of the completion of the project until December 31, 2023.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thua Thien – Hue, the project capital has not been officially allocated by the Prime Minister, but only advanced capital has been used for the project, as an explanation for the delay of the project. In addition, the source of the coral seed is not guaranteed, the cultivation of coral trees must correspond to the season, seasons and weather conditions, so the implementation process is very difficult.

Mr. Thai Van Phuc, head of construction management and construction department (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thua Thien – Hue), said that the new project has been allocated an advance of VND 50 billion for implementation and the People’s Committee of Thua Thien Province – Hue proposes to allocate funds to the project to implement the next steps.

Also, according to a representative of the Thua Thien-Hue Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the design documentation for the artificial reef stocking component is essentially complete and after the distribution of unofficial funds, the organization will immediately use selected contractors to organize the construction soon.

However, one of the difficulties of this component is the source of the coral seed. In addition to determining the location of the seed in Thua Thien – Hue Province, other seed sources were also preserved in Da Nang and Quang Nam, but the above locations had no seed sources. Therefore, the province has requested to adjust the coral cultivation area from 16-18 ha to 4 ha

“This is the first project to be implemented in the province, since the project is new, it has specific characteristics that economic norms for construction are not available, making it difficult to evaluate and approve the estimate. At the same time, the seed source does not guarantee the area, so it takes a long time to adapt,” said Mr. Thai Van Phuc.