National forum discusses plastic waste management for sustainable fishery development
A national forum on marine plastic waste management for sustainable fishery development took place on December 23, offering opportunities for sides involved to discuss activities in implementing the sector’s action plan for such management during the 2020-2030 period.
Related challenges and difficulties as well as proposals for the implementation of the plan next year were tabled at the event, which was co-organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the Directorate of Fisheries.
Tran Dinh Luan, Deputy General Director of the Directorate of Fisheries, said the action plan, issued in February 5 this year, aims to reduce plastic waste in fishery production, step by step manage ocean plastic waste via the source-to-sea approach, circular economy, and green economy development; and to raise awareness and social responsibility among farmers, fishermen and businesses about plastic waste, contributing to the realisation of goals set by the national strategy on integrated solid waste management.
Chu The Cuong, project manager of the ocean plastic waste monitoring and evaluation programme in Vietnam under the IUCN in Vietnam, said the union has launched a series of projects supporting the plan during 2019 – 2021.
According to Cuong, inspection of these activities showed that beaches on coastal islands (with tourism activities) have significantly lower quantity and volume of waste than those on offshore islands and on the mainland. Plastic waste from activities related to the seafood industry accounted for a large proportion of the total marine plastic waste detected, at 48.2% in 2021.
At the forum, representatives of participating organisations also shared practical experiences from their pilot projects and proposed new initiatives related to natural forest management and the promotion of the implementation of the action plan.
