Anger burns on Vietnam’s poisoned coast a year after spill

“The big fish are all dead,” complained 50 year- old Mai Xuan Hoa, picking small fish from a net as he tried to rebuild his livelihood a year after Vietnam’s worst environmental disaster.

Sea life began washing up on April 6, 2016 near a steel plant being developed by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp . Within weeks, more than 200km of coast had been sullied by the accidental release of chemicals including cyanide, phenols and iron hydroxide.

Along the coast, the recovery is slow and anger endures.

“Where we caught 10 fish in the past, now we will only catch one or two,” Hoa said.

Locals says thousands of fishermen have simply given up and gone to look for work elsewhere. Tourists are wary of beaches that have lost their pristine reputation and businesses are struggling.

But the wider impact could be even greater after protests over the spill encouraged a wave of activism that has pushed environmental issues up the agenda for a communist government that now promises greater scrutiny of investments.

“First, people were angry with Formosa for polluting Vietnam’s environment,” said priest and activist Dang Huu Nam.

“Now, they are angry with the unclear responses and solutions of some provincial authorities over fixing the disaster.”

More than 40,000 jobs were directly affected in four provinces dependent on fishing and tourism. Across the country, a quarter of a million workers felt the impact, according to the labour ministry.

After months of rallies and an outpouring of anger not seen in four decades of Communist Party rule, Formosa agreed to pay US$ 500 million in compensation.

The Hanoi government and the provinces have now declared the sea clean and the seafood safe. But while no official figures are available, fishermen say fish stocks have yet to recover.

On a beach in Ha Tinh province, Hoa and two other fishermen’s catch for the day was barely enough to fill a bucket. Compensation payments of 17.4 million dong ( US$ 765) would not last them long, they said.

Despite the reduced supply, merchants say fish prices are now a quarter of what they were because of fears of continued contamination.

Many fishermen have simply abandoned their boats.

Some 3,000 boats were affected in Quang Tri province alone, said Nguyen Truong Khoa, deputy director of the local environment department in the province, south of Ha Tinh.

“It will take a long time to recover completely,” he said.

Tourists are also still wary of this stretch of coast. — Reuters