Warning about coral bleaching
A survey from mid-2024 shows that Nha Trang Bay is facing the possibility of coral reefs being bleached due to high sea temperatures. In this situation, the Nha Trang Bay Management Board has organized a monitoring of coral bleaching phenomena according to the recommendation of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Monitoring results show that bleaching has been recorded in most areas in Nha Trang Bay. Of which, the area with the highest bleaching is the Hon Chong - Dang Tat sea area (about 60 - 80%), Hon Mun area (25 - 30%), Bai Lan - Hon Tre (about 5-10%). From August 2024 to now, the temperature has gradually decreased and stabilized, so corals have recovered.
Meanwhile, since the end of 2023, the Nha Trang Bay Management Board has coordinated with the Institute of Oceanography to survey the current coral reef situation in Hon Mun and have results on the coral reef situation in Hon Mun showing signs of recovery but very slowly after incidents, in which the average coverage of hard coral has not changed much compared to mid-2022. The growth rate is slow due to the biological characteristics of the most stable coral species, increasing by only about 1cm/year.
From the reality of slow coral recovery, management agencies have proposed a scientific task to provide a basis for the theme: "Creating a nursery to provide a source of coral seeds to create reefs to restore and regenerate the coral reef ecosystem in Nha Trang Bay".
After being approved, Nha Trang City held a meeting of the Council for reviewing the outline and appraising the budget, and is currently assigning the Bay Management Board to complete the outline and budget to send to the competent authority for appraisal.
Previously, in Nha Trang Bay, sea turtles were recorded laying eggs in the Dam Tre area, Hon Tre island. This is one of the positive signals that the restoration of biodiversity in Nha Trang Bay is having good results. Since then, the Nha Trang City government has organized the collection of information on the appearance of sea turtles in the bay, developing a policy for sea turtle conservation in Nha Trang Bay with the participation of experts, agencies, and communities.
Conservation associated with people's livelihoods
Currently, the global environment funds (GEF SGP) small projects funding program has been implemented since July 2023, focusing on community livelihood development combined with biodiversity conservation in Nha Trang Bay.
After consulting with local people, the authorities organized tours and studied models of protecting and conserving coral reefs and ecosystems with the participation of the community associated with eco-tourism in Hon Yen (Phu Yen). Organize a workshop to propose a model for sustainable eco-tourism development with the participation of the community in Bich Dam residential group, Vinh Nguyen ward; organize a workshop on zoning the functions of Nha Trang Bay marine reserve.
Mr. Luu Thanh Nhan - Vice Chairman of Nha Trang City - assessed that after 2 years of implementing the overall restoration plan of Nha Trang Bay, many results have been achieved but there are also some difficulties. The agencies are implementing tasks but the progress is still slow compared to the plan.
Regarding the task of "esecuting and testing the method of public-private governance of international marine ecological zones in Nha Trang Bay", Nha Trang City found that the concept of international marine ecological zones is still new to the locality, without specific regulations in the sea area in Vietnam. The functional zoning of Nha Trang Bay has not been completed, so an international marine ecological zone has not been identified. This is a large-scale task with great influence, so it needs to be discussed in depth with experts.
The project to collect fees for visiting the scenic spots of Nha Trang Bay is still in the process of being considered for promulgation, so ensuring sustainable financial resources for Nha Trang Bay management activities is facing many difficulties and cannot be implemented.
