Lacking money, mechanism for controlling exotic animals
09:43' 17/08/2007 (GMT+7)
Flowerhorn, one of the most popular ornamental fish species in Vietnam, is said to be a dangerous exotic species.
Flowerhorn, one of the most popular ornamental fish species in Vietnam, is said to be a dangerous exotic species.
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam doesn’t have any comprehensive research project on exotic animals and plants and their impacts on the ecosystem. Lacking money and a mechanism, related ministries and agencies are fumbling in controlling strange animals and plants.
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The doubts about the strange species of fish in Tri An Reservoir in the southern Dong Nai province being ca hoang de (Peacock Bass or Cichla ocellaris) has cooled down. Owing to many reasons, the working group of the Ministry of Fisheries (now being merged into the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) postponed their field trip to Dong Nai to research this species of fish from July to September 2007.
Previously, some newspaper reported that two carnivorous fish species in the Tri An Reservoir, ca chim trang (Colossoma brachpomum) and ca hoang de (Cichla ocellaris), were threatening the ecology of the Tri An Reservoir. Several local farmers bought the two fish species, which originate in the tropical Amazon River, and bred them in the reservoir area. The fish are reproducing rapidly and eating local fish species in the reservoir.
In Dong Nai province, local authorities don’t know how to deal with those varieties of fish, just asked leaders of Long Khanh commune, Bien Hoa city where the reservoir is located to strictly control the imports of ornamental fish and breeding of imported fish in local lakes and ponds and prevent ca hoang de from escaping from the reservoir into natural water areas.
This is only a temporarily method. The carnivorous fish species has entered the system of Dong Nai River and nobody knows where those fish are at present.
Talking to reporters of VietNamNet, Le Thiet Binh, Deputy Head of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Division under the Agency for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, revealed that in 2005, this agency conducted a research scheme on the invasion of strange aquatic animals into Vietnamese waters and solutions to control them. The funding for this scheme was VND600 million ($37,500). When the funding was spent, the scheme ended. No more money; the research was left unused.
According to Mr. Binh, those strange aquatic animals will destroy the living environment of local species and bring new diseases.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Fisheries only controls aquatic species that are bred for commercial purposes, not ornamental fish. It is quite easy to import ornamental fish into Vietnam, especially in HCM City.
When strange ornamental fish escape from fishing tanks into nature, they can quickly adapt themselves to the new environment and develop into fish for meat and commercialised fish. They will become very dangerous if they are carnivorous fish species and can lay eggs in nature. It is nearly impossible to control such fish varieties.
The Ministry of Fisheries has not paid attention to controlling imported aquatic plants and alga into Vietnam.
National committee on strange animals: why not?
A Peacock Bass.
A Peacock Bass.
Nguyen Duc Tu, an expert in charge of wetlands of the Birdlife International in Vietnam, last year participated in a research programme called “Basic information about exotic fish species in Vietnam and suggestions for the Law on Biodiversity” of the Environment Protection Agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Involved in this programme, he had to seek documents about exotic animals but Vietnam didn’t have any comprehensive researches about this issue.
Vietnam has no systematic statistics about exotic animals and their impacts on biodiversity, except for several specialised reports on some groups of harmful species like beaver, yellow snails or cay mai duong (Mimosa pigra).
The country also doesn’t have any agency taking responsibility for controlling exotic animals and plants. The Law on Biodiversity doesn’t mention any agency of this kind.
“Even when the law names an agency that assumes responsibility for exotic animals, it is still far from certain whether it will become true or not,” Mr. Tu said.
According to Mr. Tu, many related ministries and agencies still don’t realise that exotic animals are a threat that needs to be solved at the roots. He is worried that as the integration process becomes stronger, this will become an even bigger problem. The best measure is having a mechanism to early detect and eliminate the problem.
This expert said that Vietnam needed to have a mechanism to test the harmfulness of imported animals before allowing them to enter Vietnam and an agency to control this task to avoid overloading.
Le Thiet Binh also said that it was necessary to encourage domesticating local species and strictly managing imported species at breeding farms.
Most experts on preservation hope to have a national committee on strange animal control with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Environmental Protection Agency as the top agency in this field.
