Local residents of Loc Binh commune, located in a separated land from the provincial highway No. 18, have been earning their living through fisheries on the lagoons for the last many years.

The Hai Phu lagoon, which covers an area of 60 hectares of Loc Binh and Vinh Hien communes, has been providing means of subsistence for hundreds of local residents. However, over the last few months, the Tu Dung estuary has been extended with deposits of sand; the water in Hai Phu lagoon has got polluted and become fresh water, which still has killed aquatic creatures in masses.

In principle, the aquaculture season begins in April. However, it is now quiet on the lagoon, with fishermen’s tents and fishing nets put under the sun and got discolored. Le Viet Khanh, a fisher in Loc Binh commune, said that since 2011, his family has been farming 20 fish, snail and mussel cages. Every year, small merchants from Da Nang City come to the lagoon to collect aquatic animals. With the sale prices of 170,000-260,000 dong per kilo, he can earn hundreds of millions of dong a year.

However, Tu Dung estuary has become a “pond.” The water deposits mud, then gets fresh. This, plus the large scale shrimp hatchery which discharges waste water directly to the lagoon, have both led to the death of 80 percent of Khanh’s cultivated aquatic animals, causing the loss of tens of millions of dong. Every day, Khanh goes to the aquaculture area to fish tens of kilos of fish.

“Aquatic animals have been dieing continuously for the last many months. Dead fish can be used to feed pigs only, while they cannot be sold,” Khanh said.

Khanh is not alone. Other men in the locality, including Le Viet Son, Tran Cat, all have reported the loss of tens of millions of dong.

The polluted water has also put pearl farms in Loc Binh commune in distress, because pearls have died in masses. The biggest pearl farm in Thua Thien – Hue province of Ngoc Viet Company has also suffered.

The manager of the farm said that the farming in the first period brought high quality products. However, in the last six months, 90 percent of pearls have died due to the water which has turned fresh, thus causing the loss of ten of billions of dong.

Fishers give up fisheries

Luong The Vinh, Deputy Chair of the Loc Binh Commune People’s Committee, said that the polluted water not only has caused the loss of billions of dong to farms and aquaculture households, but also has pushed hundreds of farmers against the wall. They have lost their main source of income from lagoon and lost their jobs. A lot of households have shifted to plant forests, work as construction workers or left for other localities to earn their living.

In 2011, Ngoc Viet once spent 500 million dong to dredge the estuary and return the salinity needed to the Hai Phu lagoon. However, just a short period, Tu Dung got worse with thicker sand deposit.

Fishers in Loc Binh said that in previous years, they could earn 100,000 dong a day. However, they have lost the means of subsistence and have to take other jobs to make money.

According to the Loc Binh commune people’s committee, the salinity of Phu Hai lagoon has dropped from 30/1.000 to 0/1.000. Meanwhile, it will require big sum of money to settle the problem, which is really beyond the commune’s financial capability.