Tidal flat in Quan Lan island, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province. Photo TTH Fresh sa worms sold at the tidal flats cost more than 300,000 VND/kg, reaching the consumer’s table can be up to millions of dollars and preliminarily processed and dried depending on different prices, the most expensive can be up to nearly ten million VND. /kg. So enough to see, Sa worm is more expensive than many rare and precious specialties from the sea. Sa worm is less distributed, easy to exploit and reproduce, it is more difficult to maintain the natural breed, meanwhile, it is not possible to artificially breed this high-value seafood. In the Northeast Sea, which is geographically located in the Gulf of Tonkin with many bays, conifers and coastal saltwater ponds, it is the ideal habitat of the Sa worm. In addition, the tidal flats must have primary flora and mangrove trees for the slugs to reside. This layer of mangroves keeps the plankton in the water and is the food for the worms and many other bivalve molluscs such as clams, clams, oysters, blood cockles… Sa worm is mentioned as a specialty of Quan Lan and Minh Chau islands, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province because in the tidal flats along Quan Lan island, there is the best kind of worm. Another reason is that the oldest fishery of worms originated from the inhabitants of the island. There are families whose profession of digging and catching fish is passed down from generation to generation, supporting many generations. Increasingly, this item is more and more expensive due to scarcity and there was a time when sage was hunted and sold. Officers of Quan Lan Border Guard Station (Quang Ninh Border Guard) stationed in the area always integrate propaganda content to protect aquatic resources whenever there is a meeting or propaganda sessions. But only the fisherman understands better, if not protected, not “saved” for the next season, the risk of worms will also disappear like blood cockles, boredom, silk clams… Most of the fishers are women. They understand the characteristics of this intertidal marine species. With a specialized sand shovel, they arrived at the tidal flat early in the morning. At night, the worms in the nest come up to eat plankton, they use a shovel to quickly roll up the sand layer to catch it. The sun is up, the temperature is high, the sand is hot, the animal will hide deep down, not being caught anymore. It is important that the fishing profession is completely manual. If mechanized or used tools to plow the sand, the slugs will no longer be able to reproduce and will disappear until they disappear. It has happened in other sea areas such as Tien Yen, Ha Long, and Quang Yen of Quang Ninh province, when the tidal flats dried up, mangroves were cut down, over-exploited, encroached on the sea, and sucked sand. make the sage disappear. The People’s Committee of Quang Ninh province has regulated the period of banning the exploitation of worms in June and July every year (the breeding time of the worms). Mining is only allowed by the traditional manual method of using apricots and spades and only for worms that have reached a size over 10cm long. Along with people’s lives, Quan Lan Border Guard Station, when receiving people’s feedback, authenticates information and coordinates with many levels and branches to protect the intertidal area. Due to the large profits, many traders instigate people to use high-pressure pumps, pump out water, and plow the tidal flats to catch worms. The whole coastal shoal area was overturned, the environment was polluted, and large and small seafood was destroyed. There are times, early in the morning, when people go to the beach to “hunt” sa worms, Border Guard officers also come out to support people in protecting the intertidal area, propagandize and mobilize so that people do not exploit in the form of fishing. extermination, peace of mind to pursue their livelihoods, and at the same time, severely punish households who do not comply with the general regulations, exterminate fishing, and destroy the environment. Van Don has more than 2,000 hectares of tidal flats and nearly 1,000 fishermen make a living by hunting worms and natural intertidal mollusks. The original people in the island very well understand that seafood is their source of life, but when people from other places come, traders only buy for profit, there are always fishing activities that go against the interests of the community. this population. Especially, sand mining activities have been boycotted, protested and petitioned by fishermen, causing the locality to suspend this activity and rearrange order and stability in coastal residential areas. Accordingly, all acts of encroaching on the tidal flats, destroying the habitat of marine resources, local authorities encourage people to detect, denounce and clarify. Recently, Quan Minh Co., Ltd., an enterprise that dredging creeks and exploiting silica sand, has been accused by people of affecting the environment and attacking tidal flats, dumping waste, polluting the environment. affect the growth of the worm. In many places, people see both young worms and the fear of the extinction of worms is real. Van Don district immediately suspended the project’s construction to protect marine resources and at the same time maintain security and order in the area.

In just three days, the area had two landslides. Notably, the landslide point at the Gold Sand Hill project continued to pour a huge amount of red sand on Huynh Thuc Khang Street, Mui Ne Ward, Phan Thiet City. This is the second time in just three days that a huge amount of red sand from this real estate project has poured into the street. At 22:30 a.m. on April 23, Mr. Nguyen Van Phong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee was directly present at the scene directing to resolve the problem. Mr. Phong asked not to let traffic jams happen and mobilized a white motor at night to release the amount of sand to fill the road surface. As PLO reported that on the night of April 20, after a heavy rain, sand from this Gold Sand Hill project collapsed onto the road, stretching about 200 meters long and up to 1 meter thick, completely cut off traffic in the section. this way. Mud and sand also spilled into some neighboring houses, causing two cars and a motorcycle in circulation to be buried by sand nearly half of the car body. The operators had to run away from their possession. According to people witnessing the incident, around 23:00 on April 20, water and sand flowed into some houses on the opposite side, the red sand flood also made the seafood restaurant of Mui Ne fishing village affected. heaviest because it is located at the sand spillway. Mr. Nguyen Van Phong (left), Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee directs the settlement of the problem. Mr. Ngo Tien Ninh, owner of a seafood restaurant in Mui Ne fishing village, said this is the fourth time the restaurant has been affected by the sand spill incident from the project on the hill. The representative of the GoldSand Hill Villa project said that the cause of this incident was that at the end of the project there was land occupied by people, so it was impossible to build a technical drainage connection. In addition, through construction, the Company also proposed to relocate more than 100,000 m3 of sand recovered but not yet resolved. It is known that, after the incident on the night of April 20, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa, Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee sent an urgent dispatch to the Department of Construction to preside and coordinate with relevant units to conduct a physical inspection of the area. Goldsand Hill Villa project. At the same time, comparing all design documents, construction permits, construction items … to determine the cause of landslide, sand spillage on Huynh Thuc Khang street. The Provincial People’s Committee also requested the Department of Construction to coordinate with the Company to completely handle the incident, not to let the incident happen as recently. Implementation results are reported to the Provincial People’s Committee before April 26. The landslide road was covered with sand and the traffic was opened. The official letter of the People’s Committee also assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to review all the documents that the Company proposed to move away from the project about 105,000 m3 of salvaged sand to soon guide the Company to follow the procedures as prescribed, no. prolonging the time to store the aforementioned sand mass in the project area when the rainy season is coming, creating the risk of land landslides, affecting the safety of the people in the area. The Provincial People’s Committee also assigned the responsibility to the Chairman of the City People’s Committee of Phan Thiet to inspect and strictly handle organizations and individuals involved in the land encroachment, obstructing the construction process, causing insecurity and order. ; soon hand over the site to the investor to connect the technical and drainage system. In particular, the above urgent dispatch also stated: “This, the Provincial People’s Committee has directed the People’s Committee of Phan Thiet City from September to 2020, but until now it has not been resolved completely. This is the main cause leading to the above landslide incident. In case of need, the People’s Committee of Phan Thiet City needs to have a plan to send a construction security force in the project area. Implementation results report to the Provincial People’s Committee before April 26 “. Immediately after the urgent direction of the Provincial People’s Committee, Binh Thuan Construction Department set up a team to inspect the infrastructure works of the project. Accordingly, infrastructure works such as leveling, traffic, pavement, water supply, rainwater drainage, wastewater, electricity supply … have been completed, in accordance with the approved design and planning documents. However, the investor has not completed the connection of the rainwater drainage system with Huynh Thuc Khang street, and there is no safety solution, so it focuses on a large flow when there is heavy rain. This causes landslides, damages technical infrastructure works and affects the environment and activities of people in the project area. On April 23, the Inspector of the Department of Construction made a record and issued a decision to sanction the investor with the amount of VND 25 million on the act of organizing the construction of works violating the regulations on quality control of construction works, damage to technical infrastructure works. The Department of Construction requires the investor to urgently complete the technical infrastructure works according to the design documents. During the construction process, the investor must immediately build measures to ensure the safety of the work, not to recur the situation of sand erosion, water overflowing from the project area as in the past. The Department of Construction recommends that the Provincial People’s Committee continue to assign relevant departments and branches to urgently implement the contents under the direction, creating conditions for the investor to complete the connection of the infrastructure works from the project. project with Huynh Thuc Khang route.

Before the ship was successfully rescued, the photo became the raw material for netizens to create photos around the trapped Panama flag super ship. The excavator becomes small when standing next to the ship Ever Given. Photo: Reuters. Mission Impossible Abdelgawad, 26, is an excavator worker working in the Suez Canal, earning about $ 190 a month. At 7:00 a.m. on March 23 (local time), he started the shift as usual. However, the entrance to the workplace was locked and no one was allowed in. “I asked the security guard and he said there was a ship stuck in the canal,” said Abdelgawad. Later, he and his colleagues returned to the workers’ lodging in the al-Arbain area, about a 30-minute drive from the workplace. An hour later, Abdelgawad received a call from his manager, asking him to quickly go to the east bank of the Suez Canal. A car from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) was waiting outside the door. “I told the manager I could not enter the work area because it seemed a boat was stuck in the canal. He told me that I would go there for the sake of this ship, ”said the 26-year-old excavator driver. “When I got there, I saw that the excavator had been loaded onto the truck so that I could get closer to the bow. Going more than 1 kilometer, my heart started beating hard “. “SCA engineers told me about the incident. With 8 years of experience working in the canal, I realized that perhaps it was necessary to suck up all the mud and sand clinging to the bottom of the boat and dig deep from both sides of the ship because the bow was buried deeply in the sand, ”said Abdelgawad. Under this option, the excavator would have to dig more than 15 m deep, while the dredging ships would have to suck up all of the sediment that clinging to underneath so that the ship floated again. The Ever Given was trapped in the middle of the Suez Canal. Photo: Getty. Real life hero Abdelgawad, alone, diligently steered the excavator through the layers of sand under the giant ship. He worked non-stop until the afternoon of March 24, when someone else came to replace him. During 5 consecutive days, he only rested for 3-4 hours per day. “I sat in the excavator and looked up, the ship popped up like a skyscraper. When I started the engine, my heart beat the hardest. Everyone was worried about me for working right underneath my baby. Such a giant ship is extremely dangerous, “said Abdelgawad. “I was scared, but still determined to continue. I’m just worried that if something unfortunate happens, how will my father and family live. He only has me as a boy, the rest are two sisters, “he said. Abdelgawad poses next to the excavator. Photo: Abdelgawad. “The sediment layer crumbles into pieces both on the surface and settles down to form very large sediments. If the ship is tilted to a certain degree, me and the little excavator will be crushed by it. I felt like a soldier in real battle, ”said Abdelgawad. On the side of the Abdelgawad family, they kept calling the excavator crew to inquire about his situation every day. Meanwhile, many people have posted photos of the single excavator standing next to the giant super ship Ever Given on social networks and accompanied by ridicule. “They posted it online and laughed at the excavator and I, tacitly said that all my efforts were hopeless. I felt very sad, but I quickly forgot about it with the efforts of the entire rescue team. has been paid back. The ship re-floated on March 29. ” “I captured that great moment and posted it on Facebook. It felt like I had won a war,” said Abdelgawad. Returning to the small village of Danjwan, located on the outskirts of Shirbin city (Daqhaliyah province) Abdelgawad is greeted as a hero. The villagers shouted his name and celebrated. “I know that I have done something great for the country. My dad said he was very proud of me. My life has changed completely, ”said the 26-year-old man.

As Law of Ho Chi Minh City informed, the Vietnam Maritime Administration plans to dredge and sink 200,000m3 of material in the waters of Da Nang, which worries many people.

We have an interview with Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Thanh Ca (Senior Lecturer, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment) about this sinking plan.

The plan is not effective

Sir, is the plan to dredge 200,000m3 of material and to sink in waters 4 nautical miles from Tien Sa Port is reasonable and effective?

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Vu Thanh Ca: I also do not know where the sinking area is. But with personal experience, I think that this drowning option is reasonable but not effective.

It should be noted that even though we see sand all around, sand is actually becoming an extremely rare resource. Beach sand is always very flexible and has a sand cycle near the coast. In winter, large waves with short cycles bring the sand from the shore outward to form near shore sand bars. In summer, storm waves are small but long cycle transport sand from these sand bars to the shore to reclaim the beach. However, the amount of sand brought into the beach is always smaller than the amount of sand carried out or in other words, a certain amount of sand is lost each year towards areas with great depths. Usually, this loss of sand is offset by sand brought out by rivers.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Vu Thanh Ca (Senior Lecturer, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment).

As many hydroelectric and irrigation dams are currently built on the upper reaches of rivers and block most of the sand flowing from the river basin. The amount of sand loaded into the sea by rivers is severely reduced and is no longer enough to compensate for the loss of sand at beaches. As a result, beaches suffer from a lack of sand, thus being transformed from an accretion state to an erosion, loss of beach state. Beach erosion is more serious because some localities have allowed to absorb sand near the shore for sea encroachment, thus causing a shortage of sand.

Sediment in Tien Sa port channel and basin originates from neighboring sandbanks and Han River, and is carried by long waves into the channel and port basin. If this amount of dredged sand is not submerged in locations with great depths but is dumped near the beach next to Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Danang Bay, the use of sand will be very efficient.

There is no need to pour sand at the beach but rather sand in front of the beach, near where the sand bars are formed in winter. Long waves in summer will transport sand into the sediment to the beach, restore part of the beach that was eroded before.

Only immersed sand is not polluted

The waters surrounding Son Tra Peninsula have 177 species of coral, 130 species of fish living in coral reefs, 3 species of seagrass distributed over a total area of ​​1 ha and 108 species of seaweed. Warnings experts must be very careful when dumping 4 nautical miles from Tien Sa port. What are your comments on these concerns?

There have been many studies around the world on the environmental impact of dredged mud and sand. The first thing to emphasize is that if the dredged sludge is contaminated, special treatment is required to eliminate the pollution and only the immersion of non-contaminated dredged sludge into the sea is allowed.

The research results in the world show that, if the dredged sand is poured over sensitive ecosystems with high biodiversity such as corals, sea grass, the dredged mud and sand will kill the ecosystems. This state. In addition, if the dredged sediment is dumped near such ecosystems, the dumping of the sediment will change the seabed topography. The sea dynamics processes such as waves and currents will reset a new balance at the seabed by transporting mud and sand to sedimentation in other areas and can fill and cover areas with leveling ecosystems. coral, sea grass. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary damage, the dredged sediment submerged area must be significantly away from areas with high biodiversity sensitive ecosystems.

Da Nang seaport area.

If the dredged sludge is submerged in a rather remote location (for sure, more than 5 km) an area with a sensitive ecosystem with high biodiversity, the problem of turbid water becomes unimportant. . I would like to quote on this issue of the Committee of the OSPAR Convention, which is the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Nordic Countries and Western European Countries: “Sediments are an essential part, the integrity and dynamics of the system. Ecological. Over 99% of the dredged material that has been submerged into the sea has been generated near the submerged site and is the result of dredging ports and access channels to ensure navigational operations. Most of the dredges were submerged at identified sites. They are also used for beach farming and encroachment ”and“ sediments are part of the marine environment and the movement of non-polluted sediments in the ocean supports natural sediment balancing. also has short-term effects on light-dependent organisms, but this effect is generally considered negligible. ”

It should be noted that the Nordic countries and Western Europe have very high standards of marine protection, and they concluded as such, we do not need to worry about this. Some countries also require dredged mud and sand submerged in the area with the mud and sand circulation system to support the mud and sand circulation, prevent coastal erosion.

Pouring sand to feed the yard, a double job

Do you have any advice for Vietnam Maritime Administration as well as Da Nang in sinking 200,000m3 of material?

I think that the dredger should be used to feed the beach, to compensate for erosion at the beaches of Danang. Over the years, a number of beaches in Da Nang, one of the most important tourism resources, are being eroded due to a shortage of sand. The use of dredged sand to feed the beach by dumping this sand into sandbanks just outside of the eroding beaches, although not fully addressing the problem of beach erosion, can also be mitigated. this problem.

If it is possible to use dredged sand to feed the beach and prevent erosion, the Vietnam Maritime Administration as well as Da Nang have done more than a double job. I want to say “more than a double job” because many places in Vietnam can not raise the beach to prevent erosion because there is no sand to feed the beach.

Associate’s views on material submersion into the sea? In the world, besides submerging material in the sea, is there any other option?

There is almost no other option to handle dredged sludge. Dumping dredged mud on shore is both costly and environmentally dangerous. It is expensive because you will need a large area of ​​land for dredging mud and sand. Dangerous for the environment because salt water from dredged mud and sand will pollute and destroy the ecosystem in a rather large area around the dredged mud and sand dump site.

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize again that the dredged sludge is part of the sea, and if the uncontaminated dredged sludge is submerged in the area within the sand circulation system of an eroding beach then I have helped the beach to protect itself according to the laws of nature.

Thank you Sir!.