Do not be careless with the marine environment!

‘Virtual photography’ has long been a popular trend among young people. However, if the virtual life is offensive, leaving consequences for the natural environment such as the story of ‘virtual living’ that causes starfish in Rach Vem (Ganh Dau, Phu Quoc) to die dry on the beach. last day is not good at all!
On Phu Quoc tourism forums in recent days, the story of starfish in Rach Vem being left to die on the beach is receiving much attention and comments. The story begins after a Hanoi tourist named HA published a photo of starfish lying on the sandy beach after being “requisitioned” by tourists to take pictures. She said she took the photos around 12-14h on April 2 at the fishing village of Rach Vem. At that time, she and her family went to Rach Vem because she heard that there were many stars and took beautiful pictures. However, when she arrived, she saw that the starfish were arranged in a heart shape on the sand, where the waves could not reach, so all were dead.

The image of starfish dying dry on the sand after tourists arranged for pictures (Photo: NVCC)

The female tourist thought that some people wanted beautiful photos, so they arranged starfish to take pictures. But when they finished shooting, they left the starfish that burned dry in the sun. Frustrated by the lack of awareness of a part of tourists, she decided to share this story on travel forums. Since then, most of the online community have expressed their dissatisfaction and criticized the above behavior.

Over the past time, the trend of “taking photos with starfish” has become a “hot trend” today. Just type the keyword “starfish Phu Quoc”, within 0.64 seconds, google gave 48,300,000 related results. This shows how much interest and searching internet users have for this marine species.

In fact, it is normal to take pictures with the natural landscape in each trip and then share and introduce them to everyone. The incident is not worth criticizing if the photographer respects and does not affect the natural environment. Putting starfish on the sandy beach and then leaving it not only shows a lack of awareness in public (creating more trash for the beach), but more harmful than affecting the environmental ecosystem and marine resources.

Whether carefree or intentional, bringing starfish ashore to take pictures and then “neglected” is difficult to accept. Not to mention, the “holding, holding, touching” starfish can also cause negative effects if human hands carry viruses and bacteria harmful to marine organisms. Even so, many opinions even say that bringing starfish to the sandy beach to take pictures and then released back into the seawater is also harmful to starfish.

Starfish is the common name for the echinoderms of the class Asteroidea. There are currently about 1,800 living starfish species present in all oceans of the world. Starfish are present in a wide range from tidal flats to abyss (6,000 m). Most of them have a symmetrical 5-armed star shape with a central center point. However, there will be individual starfish species with up to 10, 20 and even 40 arms.

Starfish as well as other types of marine life contribute to the general ecosystem, creating continuity in the food chain. Once this food chain is damaged excessively, it will reduce the number of populations in the ecosystem, reduce biodiversity, loss of landscape.

In many countries, even tourists will be severely fined for touching marine creatures such as corals to take pictures. In Vietnam, the application of sanctions like this in tourist destinations is not much. However, the Law on resources and environment of sea and islands No. 82/2015 / QH13 passed by the National Assembly on June 25, 2015 clearly states the rights, obligations and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in the general management of natural resources, protection of the environment of the sea and islands of Vietnam. In which, content No. 5 in Article 8 of the Law clearly shows the prohibited acts: Destroying or degrading the environment, marine and island ecosystems.

Protection of marine environment contributes to ensuring the diversity of marine ecosystems (Artwork: Phuquocxanh.com)

Looking at the world wide, the issue of environmental protection, marine and island ecosystems has also been noticed for a long time. Many international conventions on the protection of the marine environment have been established, creating a basis and legal corridor for preserving the marine environment and preventing pollution at sea. In particular, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) has established the basic provisions for the conservation of marine life. UNCLOS 1982 not only defines the obligations of countries to protect the marine environment, but also dedicates a separate section on the protection and preservation of the marine environment.

Perhaps it’s time to change our perception, behavior, and habits while traveling. Instead of littering and affecting the living environment, it is necessary to consciously preserve and protect the landscape and the diversity of the ecosystem. The story of starfish in Phu Quoc is just one example, a testament to the “carefree”, “carefree” of people in front of nature. The time has come, each of us needs to contribute and join hands to build a healthy and sustainable ecosystem, for our own health, our lives! ./.