Frontier Vietnam Environmental Research Law in Bai Tu Long Bay ...

Frontier Vietnam Environmental Research 

REPORT 27 

Law in Bai Tu Long Bay National Park: 

identification, implementation and 

enforcement. 

Workshop proceedings 

Frontier Vietnam 

2004

Frontier Vietnam Environmental Research 

Report 27 

Law in Bai Tu Long Bay National Park: 

identification, implementation and 

enforcement. 

Workshop proceedings 

Bottrill, L. and Fanning E. (eds) 

Darwin Initiative: Department for Environment 

and Rural Affairs, UK 

Bai Tu Long Bay National Park Authority 

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 

Forest Protection Department 

Frontier-Vietnam 

Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources 

Society for Environmental Exploration 

Hanoi 

2004

Frontier-Vietnam Environmental Research Report 27 

Technical report citation: 

Frontier-Vietnam (2004) Bottrill, L., and Fanning E. (eds). Law in Bai Tu Long Bay National Park: 

identification, implementation and enforcement. Workshop proceedings. Frontier-Vietnam 

Environmental Research Report 27 . Society for Environmental Exploration, UK and Institute of 

Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi and Darwin Initiative, UK Government. ISSN 1479-117X 


ISSN: 1479-117X 

Law enforcement workshop: Bai Tu Long Bay: 162/10/022 

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Since 1993, Frontier-Vietnam has implemented extensive biodiversity surveys, natural resource 

assessments, socio-economic research, environmental education, awareness raising activities and 

training in protected areas of Northern Vietnam. 


The Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) is an institute under the National Centre for 

Sciences, Hanoi. IEBR has carried a wide range of biological and ecological research all over Vietnam 

and has collaborated by a wide range of national and international organisations. 


The Society is a non-profit making company limited by guarantee and was formed in 1989. The 

Society’s objectives are to advance field research into environmental issues and implement practical 

projects contributing to the conservation of natural resources. Projects organised by The society are 

joint initiatives developed in collaboration with national research agencies in co-operating countries. 

Bai Tu Long Biodiversity Awareness Project 

The Bai Tu Long Bay Biodiversity Awareness Project (BTLBBAP) aims to raise biodiversity 

awareness and to facilitate conservation measures in the Bai Tu Long Bay National Park, Van Don 

District, Quang Ninh. (MAP) It will achieve this through assisting the National Park’s many 

stakeholders to meet the conservation obligations committed to Vietnamese law under the Biodiversity 

Action Plan, 1994. 

Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme 

The aim of the programme is to provide the Vietnamese Government with the comprehensive 

information on the nation’s protected areas. Each research expedition assesses the extent and the 

condition of forest cover, identifies the different species of fauna and flora and maps the forests as a 

source of food, medicine and building materials for the local people, community based work is also 

important to assess how reliant communities are on these resources. 


P.Hong Ha TP 

Ha Long 

Quang Ninh 

Tel: (0)33 835 990 

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Darwin Initiative 

Department for Environment, Food and Rural 

Affairs 

4/CI Ashdown House 

123 Victoria Street 

London, SW1E 6DE 

Tel: +44 (0)20 7944 6205 

Fax: (0)20 7944 6239 

Email: darwin@defra.gsi.gov.uk 

Bai Tu Long Bay National Park Authority 

Cai Rong Town 

Van Don 

Quang Ninh 

Tel: 33 835 523 


Sinh Vat 

Nghia Do Cau Giay 

Hanoi 

84 4 8360870 


Lane 40, No. 47 Ta Quang Buu 

Bach Khoa 

Hanoi 


50-52 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3QP. U.K. 

Tel: +44 20 76 13 24 22 

Fax: +44 20 76 13 29 92 

E-mail: info@frontier.ac.uk 

Internet: www.frontier.ac.uk 


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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Acronyms…………………………………………………………………………….iii 

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………iv 

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………...v 

1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 

2.0 Proceedings………………………………………………………………………3 

3.0 Actions……………………………………………………………………………9 

4.0 Appendices………………………………………………………………………11 

I – Training timetable………………………………………………………………11 

II – Introductory address………………………………………………………….16 

III – Introduction to biodiversity………………………………………………….18 

IV – Marine Life …………………………………………………………………..24 

V – Fisheries law……………………………………………………………………29 

VI – Article transcript………………………………………………………………32 

VII – Participants…………………………………………………………………...33 

ACRONYMS 

BTLBBAP Bai Tu Long Bay Biodiversity Awareness Project 

FPD 


F-V 


IEBR 


IoO 

Institute of Oceanography 

MoF 

Ministry of Fisheries 

MARD 

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 

MPA 

Marine Protected Area 

NPA 

National Park Authority 


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Bai Tu Long National Park, in Quang Ninh Province, Northern Vietnam was gazetted 

in 2001 by ratification of the Deputy President of Vietnam. 

As part of the Bai Tu Long Bay Biodiversity Awareness Project, Frontier-Vietnam 

organised a management training workshop on park law enforcement from August 19 

– 21 st 2002. The aim of the workshop was to assist the newly formed park authority in 

their efforts to effectively implement park legislation. Through a series of technical 

presentations given by park law experts and facilitated discussions, participants 

identified constraints and opportunities to implement law enforcement activities. 

The need for improved enforcement in Bai Tu Long (BTL) is a matter of immediate 

priority. The park is under threat from a number damaging practices, including 

logging, silviculture, hunting and over-fishing. Unsustainable exploitation of the 

park’s resources has caused significant reductions in much of the park’s flora and 

fauna. Many of these activities continue unchecked and may result in local 

extinction’s of a number of species within the next few years. The imminent threats to 

park’s biodiversity was explained in detail by Mr. Nick Hardiman, Frontier-Vietnam 

Research Co-ordinator, and Mr. Van Chiem, who covered threats to BTL’s terrestrial 

and marine ecosystems respectively. 

After a series of discussions lead by a facilitator and assisted by the experts, the park 

began to pinpoint the serious limitations to initiating an effective enforcement 

programme. The participants explained the financial and capacity constraints that 

prevent them from adequately enforcing park legislation. These constraints prevented 

any co-ordinated enforcement efforts for the park and required urgent attention. Mr. 

Tuy, the Director of the National Park and Head of the Provincial FPD, addressed the 

concerns the participants raised and explained the reasons behind the financial 

limitations. He also ensured that the situation would improve once the park had to 

become more established. 


iv


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This workshop was part of the Bai Tu Long Bay Biodiversity Awareness Project 

(BTLB BAP) 162/10/022, funded through the Darwin Initiative, of the Department for 

Food and Rural Affairs, UK and the Society for Environmental exploration, UK, 

implemented through Frontier-Vietnam. The event would not have been possible 

without the collaboration, advice and assistance of a number of people. In particular, 

acknowledgements are due to the following: 

Bai Tu Long National Park Authority 

Director: 

Vice Director: 

Head of Science Department: 

Head of Forest Protection Department: 

Head of Conversation Department: 

Head of General Department: 

Workshop Speakers 

IEBR Senior Consultant: 

MoF Senior Consultant: 

FPD (Head of Nature Conservation) 

Director of Xuan Son National Park 


Managing Director: 

Development Programme Manager: 

Programme Manager: 

Operations Manager: 


Country Representative: 

Country Co-ordinator: 

BTLBBAP Project Manager: 

BTLBBAP Education Co-ordinator: 

BTLBBAP Project Officer: 

Facilitator: 

Translator: 

Nguyen Duc Tuy 

Pham Tuan Hung 

Ngo Van Dinh 

Pham Van Sy 

Nguyen Dinh Ung 

Luong Xuan Chin 

Nguyen Cu 

Nguyen Van Chiem 

Tran Quoc Bao 

Nguyen Lao 

Ms. Eibleis Fanning 

Ms. Elizabeth Humphreys 

Ms. Nicola Beharrell 

Mr. Matthew Willson 

Mr. Thomas Osborn 

Ms. Elizabeth Tydeman 

Mr. Leo Bottrill 

Mr. Daniel Burns 

Ms. Hoang Lan Huong 

Mr. Le Xuan Hieu 

Mr. Nguyen Duc Long 


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1.0 INTRODUCTION 

1.1 LAW IN BAI TU LONG BAY NATIOANL PARK 

From August 19 th to the 21 st , a training workshop was held for Bai Tu Long National 

Park Staff. The workshop was held to assist National Park staff in their efforts to 

enforce park forest and marine law. Bai Tu Long National Park, officially opened on 

April 25 th 2002 by directive from the Vice President of Vietnam. Unsustainable levels 

of illegal logging, hunting and fishing practices currently threaten the park. The 

Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme has documented the evidence of these 

activities in the National Park 2002. 

Enforcement in Bai Tu Long will prove to be a difficult activity for the fledgling 

Authority. All of the park enforcement officers are from various FPD departments 

around Quang Ninh and none have any experience enforcing marine or national park 

regulations. In fact, within Vietnam, capacity for enforcement within marine areas is 

currently very low and Bai Tu Long is uniquely difficult given the relatively large size 

of both its marine and terrestrial components. A few of the FPD staff have experience 

working in BTL and have the requisite boat handling and navigation skills. However, 

they have not yet had the responsibility to halt illegal fishing practices in the bay. This 

has typically been enforcement by the District MoF. 

To begin addressing illegal activities in the park, the workshop aimed to provide the 

Bai Tu Long Park Authority with management training in Park Law identification, 

implementation and enforcement methods. This was achieved through a series of 

presentations outlining the laws under the park authorities jurisdiction and facilitating 

discussions on how to appropriately implement and enforce them. Experts from both 

the FPD and MoF were invited to explain what the precise legislation is governing 

Bai Tu Long as well as provide some general national park rules and regulations. 

With this legislative background. 

After the presentations, a professional facilitator initiated a series of discussions. The 

participants were divided into groups lead by experts to discuss various topics, 

regarding law enforcement in Bai Tu Long. The discussions were tailored to learn the 

constraints the participants currently face in law implementation as well as 

opportunities for collaboration with other enforcement organisations to co-ordinate 

efforts.. 

A complete plan for the workshops can be found in Appendix I. 


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1.2 LOCATION 

The workshop was held in Cai Rong, Van Don District, Quang Ninh. The location 

was convenient for all participants and provided an opportunity for invited experts to 

go on a study tour around the park. 

1.3 PARTICIPANTS 

• All members of the BTL park authority 

• All staff of the BTLBBAP 

• Nguyen Duc Long – Technical Assitant HHQ 

• Le Xuan Hieu – Education co-ordinator with SPIEEP 

• Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem – Senior scientist consultant, Ministry of Fisheries, Hanoi 

• Mr. Tran Quoc Bao – Former Head of Nature Conservation Division, Central FPD 

• Dr. Nguyen Cu – Senior researcher, IEBR 

• Mr. Lau – Director, Xuan Son National Park 


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2.0 PROCEEDINGS 

Day 1 

After an introduction by Mr. Pham Tuan Hung, Vice Director of Bai Tu Long NP and 

Mr. Leo Bottrill, Project Manager of the Frontier-Vietnam Biodiversity Awareness 

Project, a series of presentations were given explaining the context of a national park 

and the laws that govern it. Dr. Nguyen Cu from the IEBR gave an opening 

presentation explaining the value of biodiversity and the importance protecting it 

through the national park system. He also detailed some of international and national 

regulations implemented to protect endangered species. 

Appendix. II – Full transcript of Mr. Leo Bottrill’s introduction 

Appendix. III – Full transcript of Dr. Nguyen Cu’s presentation 

Dr. Cu was followed by two presentations on the status of biodiversity within Bai Tu 

Long National Park. Mr. Nicholas Hardiman, Frontier-Vietnam Research Coordinator, 

gave the first presentation describing the current status of terrestrial 

biodiversity. Basing results on 8 months of research in the park, Mr. Hardiman 

identified key floral and faunal species within the park’s forests and the pressures they 

currently face from continued logging, limestone mining, and hunting. He also 

provided feedback on the affects that encroachment had on the park’s ecosystems and 

provided recommendations for park management. 

Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem, Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Fisheries Hanoi, followed 

Mr Hardiman with an introductory presentation on the nature of marine ecosystems, 

followed by an overview of the current status of marine resources in the park. Mr. 

Chiem explained the threats to Bai Tu Long’s marine biodiversity through pesticide 

run off, sewage dumping, logging in watershed areas and mangrove zones. He also 

mentioned the benefits of protecting the marine ecosystems, such as sustaining fish 

stocks, protecting coastal zones from erosion, maintaining biodiversity and gene 

pools, and becoming tourism attractions. 

Appendix IV and V for transcripts of Mr. Chiem’s presentations 

After Mr Chiem’s presentation, Mr. Bottrill wrapped up the day’s proceedings and 

explained how they tie into the discussions on Day 2. Mr. Bottrill explained the 

importance of providing context to tomorrow’s discussions on National Park 

legislation. He explained how we had learnt the importance of Bai Tu Long’s 

biodiversity in both an environmental and economic context as well as the serious 

threats the park currently faces. 

A study tour has been scheduled for the afternoon but due to strong winds it was 

postponed until the following day. 

The day’s proceedings was covered by a camera crew from VTV Hanoi who 

interviewed Mr. Bottrill and Mr. Hung. 


3


Day 2 

After a brief introduction to the day’s proceedings, Mr. Tran Quoc Bao, recently 

retired director of the Central FPD Conservation Department, gave a presentation 

explaining the forest laws of Bai Tu Long National Park. Mr. Bao gave an overview 

of the laws that currently govern Bai Tu Long’s forests. Given Mr. Bao’s experience 

as the chief of the Vietnam CITES office, he offered considerable insight into the 

treaties implications for the park. He also explained how the close proximity of the 

park to Chinese border, makes it very susceptible to the wildlife trade. To follow Mr. 

Bao’s presentation, Mr Chiem presented on the marine laws that currently govern the 

National Park. This presentation had particular relevance as most of the park staff 

were only familiar with forest legislation. 

Mr. Bao did not provide a transcript of his presentation 

After the completion of all of the law presentations, participants were invited to 

discuss the ways in which park laws could be better enforced. 

After group leader presentations, Mr Lao, Director of Xuan Son National Park 

presented a case study from his park’s experiences. He explained their awarenessraising 

programme approach, using examples of awareness posters that he used to 

discourage the local community from hunting Xuan Son’s wildlife. Mr. Lao qualified 

his experience explaining that the disturbance regimes in Bai Tu Long significantly 

differ from those in Xuan Son, but he also emphasised what they had in common. He 

said both parks face pressure from the needs of poor surrounding communities and 

from lack of trained staff and resources. He emphasised the importance of continuing 

development of the awareness programme as an effective means of informing the 

local community of park activities and policies. 

Mr Lao did not provide a transcript for his presentation 

In the discussion that followed Mr Lao’s presentation, participants explained the 

difficulties of making comparisons between Xuan Son and Bai Tu Long. Aside from 

obvious differences such as the Bai Tu Long’s marine component, Xuan Son is a 

more established and better funded National Park. The have received significantly 

more technical and financial assistance from organisations such Birdlife International 

as well as from MARD. The case study highlighted the significant management and 

technical challenges facing the Bai Tu Long Park Authority to effectively enforce 

laws. The need for increased technical and financial support were the two areas 

identified for urgent attention. To analyse these areas in more detail, further 

discussion was warranted for Day 3. 

Day 3 

For Day 3, Participants were divided by department with an expert and members of 

various district and commune organisations to assist them. Their answers and 

responses are given below. 

Discussion 1: 

Q: Over the next year, how would your department ideally like to be supporting 


4


enforcement measures Provide a list of activities with a description of each activity. 

Group leaders presented findings. 


General Activities 

• Raising community awareness with media action plan such as: posters, billboards 

that might be placed in schools, companies, governmental organisations. 

• Set up the ranger stations. 

• Improve professional skills of rangers and make plans for staff training and study 

tours to the other National Parks both in Vietnam and other countries. 

Specific Programmes 

• Build ranger headquarters and ranger stations: 

• Ranger mobile stations 

• Minh Chau station (Can Troi), Song Ma station (Tru Ngo), Ba Mun station (Ba 

Mun) 

• Purchase vehicles 

• Each station has 01 boat (40CW) 

• Each station has 1 boat + 1 speed boat 

• Communication is set up to standard to communicate with the head quarter 

• Set up patrol groups 

• Purchase Camera, tape recorder and binoculars 

• Co-operate with different departments in the park authority and other 

organisations 

• Ensure all ranger stations are staffed with at least one ranger every day. 

• Demarcate forest jurisdiction under different ranger stations 

Science Department 


Identify, list locations for the protection of key species and ecosystems 

Conduct awareness raising with rangers and the community 

Implement special research on some marine species to identify the technical measures 

for conservation issues. 

Work closely with the FPD department and conservation department to identify the 

protected areas and establish boundaries. 


1. Conduct forest and marine surveys 

• Forest: Continue support for the Frontier Vietnam forest surveys 

• Marine: Frontier-Vietnam invites experts. Budget: National Park and Frontier- 

Vietnam 


5


- Forest: Provide direction for Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme 

- Marine: construct specimen display room in Interpretation Centre with 

BTLBBAP. 

- Document: film, books 

Conservation Department 


- Conservation the gene resources (fauna, flora and marine welfare) 

- Raising awareness within the communities by distributing law deeds to the 

villages 

- Need to build up the proper system for both staff and manager 

- National Park Authority makes the specific schedule to implement each period of 

the project: 

- Protect animals 

- Conservation marine welfare 

- Co-operation with the other organisation 

- Regulations of province, district and NP Authority are distributed to households 

Specific Activities 

- Organise the training course (conservation raising awareness) for park staff, 

village leaders and all the head of organisations which belong to buffer zone of 

National Park 

- Build ranger stations 

- Build the National Park headquarters 

- Buy new equipment 

- Collect relevant documents on awareness raising techniques 

- Develop plans for afforestation and aquaculture schemes 

Management Department 


- Finish administrative work such as management plans and park zoning 

- Natural resources surveys of mangroves, seagrass beds and valuable tree species 

- Increase staff capacity thorough regular training, initially through BTLBBAP 

workshops but through attending courses offered by Central FPD, other parks and 

organisations 

- Supplement regulations, with additional penalties as well as community based 

forest stewardship schemes 

- Systematise law deeds 


- Strengthen management 

- Build Wildlife rescue centre, initially for Asiatic Black Bears but with other 

species in the future. In co-operation with Animals Asia Foundation. 


6


- Conduct research on natural resources and develop plan to manage them more 

efficiently. 

- Co-operate with all the levels of local authority, functional offices and 

international organisations 

- Raise awareness of law enforcement 

Discussion 2: 

Q: List and Rank the constraints that you face in implementing these activities. 


Training Equipment Personnel Management Other 

Lack of 

No funding 

Funding 

Lack of finance 

for marine 

training 

Staff 

assignment 

needs more 

sensible 

Difficulty in 

travelling in the 

field. 

Scientific Department 

Training Equipment Personnel Management Constrain 

1. Not enough 

staff for 

conducting 

research 

about 

biology 

(marine) 

2. Lack of 

knowledge 

of using 

facilities 

3. Difficulty in 

selftraining 

Binocular, GPS, 

camera, 

compasses, map, 

documents, field 

devices 

Lack of staff 

involvement 

doing scientific 

research 

Lack of specific 

managers 

Computer 

Conservation Department 

Training Facilities Personnel Management Other 

Lack of boat, Still not stable, 

stationary, lack of staff. 

computer 

Limited 

capacity 

- Management 

experience is 

limited. 

- Management 

regulations are 

still inadequate 


7


Management Department 

Training Facilities Personnel Management other 

Capacity is 

inadequate 

Finance is 

limited 

Law enforcement is 

not strict enough 

- Law deeds overlap 

General Table of Difficulties 

Training Facilities Personnel Management Others 

- Boat, speed 

boat, camera, 

binoculars, 

GPS 

- Lack of 

marine 

training 

course 

- Lack of 

knowledge 

of using 

facilities 

- Difficulty in 

implementi 

ng training 

- Staff 

capacity is 

inadequate 

- Lack of the 

marine experts 

- Not enough 

science staff 

- The capacity of 

the staff is still 

limited 

- lack of money 

- Lack of 

scientific 

manager 

- Management 

experience is 

limited 

- The park is 

large 

- Park 

boundary 

hasn’t been 

clear yet 

- Law 

enforcement is 

not strict 

Discussion 3: 

Q: What recommendations can be made to overcome these constraints. 

Recommendations 

1. Gain further experience by working with Frontier-Vietnam 

2. Construct a management plan for annual budget review 

3. It is necessary to foster staff including foreign language 

4. The Park will need more marine and tourism staff 

5. The Park will incorporate results from this and subsequent workshop into their 

management plan and disseminate policy updates widely to local, regional and 

national stakeholders. 


8


3.0 ACTIONS 

As result of discussion and decision in the workshop, BTLBBAP and the NPA have 

initiated a number of activities to improve park law enforcement methods. 

3.1 Management Planning Workshops 

To address the need for a comprehensive management plan for the next year, Frontier- 

Vietnam will assist in the organisation of a Provincial level workshop to discuss 

strategies with other governmental authorities. Detailed plans of activities will be 

constructed beforehand for submission to the Provincial Forest Protection 

Department, Quang Ninh. An inventory of equipment and staff training needs will 

also be undertaken. The workshop will likely be held at the end of 2003 before the 

park submits a budget proposal for funding in 2004. BTLBBAP will also be able to 

predict the general expenditure for running the park’s recently developed EE 

programme. Mr. Tuy, Director of the National Park and the Provincial FPD has 

already approved this idea. 

3.2 Enforcement and Park Management Resources 

On the recommendation of Dr. Cu, Frontier-Vietnam has collected a number of 

reference materials for the national park authority covering a range of park 

management and enforcement topics. These materials will complement the bound 

copies of presentations given at the workshop with case specific information. The 

books constitute a growing library of materials that BTLBBAP have been providing 

the park for a range of activities from EE, awareness raising to biodiversity surveying 

and monitoring. 

3.3 Community Awareness 

The park conservation department will be trained by the Frontier-Vietnam staff to 

begin park awareness work in the 5 buffer zone communes. The outcome from socialeconomic 

surveys conducted by the Frontier-Vietnam forest research programme will 

be used to establish conservation priorities and target groups within each commune. 

An article has already appeared in the park newsletters detailing the laws and zoning 

restrictions of the park will support their work. The aim of the conservation 

department activities will be to ensure every commune has sufficient information on 

the park and the laws that now govern it. The loud speaker system BTLBBAP is 

currently developing in collaboration with the Park and the District Department of 

Media will provide an excellent means of disseminating information to all villages in 

the buffer zone. 

3.4 Media 

On September 19 th 2003, Vietnam Television (VTV) aired a spot on their weekly 

science programme introducing Bai Tu Long National Park to a national audience. 

The spot then aired at least five times again at different times and days of the week. 

This has given the Park national recognition, contributing to the increased interest the 

public, government and international organisations have in National Parks in coastal 

areas. 

A copy was given to the Van Don District TV station who aired it locally to the 

District several times. In surveys recently conducted by BTLBBAP with local school 


9


children, almost all of them had watched the TV spot and were able to recite various 

park facts from the programme. 

VTV have expressed an interest in conducting a longer documentary in Bai Tu Long. 

They intend to return to Bai Tu Long for the opening of the Interpretation Centre and 

view the school EE programme. In addition to television coverage, an article covering 

the workshop and the park’s and Frontier’s programmes appeared in Vietnam News 

on September 7 th . Vietnam News have also expressed interest in compiling a more in 

depth article on the National Park. 

Hoang Lan Huong, BTLBBAP project officer, will be attending a media training 

course in Bangkok Thailand. On the back of this training, she will be writing a script 

for environmental programming in collaboration with the District Department of 

Media. 

Please see Appendix. VI for transcript of Vietnam News Article 

3.5 Park Initiatives 

The park have collaborated with other National Parks in Vietnam to learn from their 

experiences. Staff from the NPA Management Board attended study tours and training 

to Cuc Phuong National Park. A delegation from Ba Be National Park visited BTL as 

well as from Hon Mun MPA, which was co-ordination by Ms. Huong from 

BTLBBAP. To assist with marine capacity building, two staff, Mr Dinh and Mr. Tuy, 

were invited to Con Dao National Park in South Vietnam to learn about turtle 

conservation. This was made possible with the assistance of WWF. 


10


4.0 APPENCICES 

APPENDIX I 

LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING WORKSHOP TIMETABLE 

Law in Bai Tu Long National Park: Identification, Implementation and Methods 

of Enforcement 

19-21st August in Cai Rong, Van Don Island, Van Don District Quang Ninh Province 

1. Purpose 

1.1 To provide the Bai Tu Long Park Authority with management training in Park 

Law identification, implementation and enforcement methods. 

2. Objectives 

2.1 To introduce the principles of biodiversity and its protection through the 

National Park system. 

2.2 Establish what the laws are in Bai Tu Long Bay and who has jurisdiction over 

them. 

2.3 Identify means of co-ordinating efforts with other enforcement bodies 

2.4 Identify methods the Park Authority will employ in implementing National 

Park Law, particularly ones that are community-based. 

3. Justification 

• At the workshop planning meeting held in April, the participants agreed upon law 

enforcement and implementation as a main workshop priority. Law establishes the 

Park Authorities legal rights and obligations towards protecting Bai Tu Long from 

destructive practices. The legal framework for law implementation and 

enforcement in Bai Tu Long Bay is particularly complicated as it contains both 

marine and terrestrial ecosystems. An integrated protection management 

programme has yet to be implemented. This gives the National Park a unique 

opportunity for relevant authorities to identify and test new methodologies for 

effective law enforcement. 

5. Workshop Location 

People’s Committee Meeting Room in Cai Rong, Van Don Island, Van Don District, 

Quang Ninh Province 

6. Training Workshop Itinerary 


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DAY 1 

7:30am-7:45pm 

• Bus picks up guests and invited participants from Hotel/s and transports them to 

workshop venue 

8am – 8:15am 

• Introduction to the Training Workshop 

(Mr Tuy – Director of Bai Tu Long National Park) 

8:15am – 8:30am 

• Introduction to the purpose of the workshop and summary the programme 

(Leo Bottrill, Frontier-Vietnam Biodiversity Awareness Project Manager, Bai Tu 

Long Bay National Park) 

8:30 am – 9:30am 

• Presentation on the justification of biodiversity conservation and the 

role of National Parks play in its protection. Reference to National and 

International law regarding biodiversity conservation will made (ie. Biodiversity 

Action Plan, CITES and Convention of Biological Diversity) 

9:30am – 10:00am 

• Presentations on the current state of the biodiversity in Bai Tu Long and 

predictions for the future 

- Terrestrial – Nicholas Hardiman from Frontier–Vietnam Forest Research 

Programme in Bai Tu Long Bay 

10:00am – 10:30am 

• Coffee and Tea Break 

10:30am – 11:15am 

Introduction to marine ecosystems with reference to Bai Tu Long Bay 

(Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem, senior scientist consultant at the Ministry of Fisheries, 

Hanoi) 

 

11:20am – 12:10pm 

Presentation on the current state of biodiversity in Bai Tu Long and predictions for the 

future. 

(Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem, senior scientist consultant at the Ministry of Fisheries, 

Hanoi) 

12:10 – 12:20pm 

• Wrap-up. conclusions drawn from the first day presentations and how they link to 

Bai Tu Long national park. 


12


12:30pm – 1:45pm 

• Lunch 

1:45pm – 2:00pm 

• Transport to pier 

2:00pm 

Study Tour of Bai Tu Long Bay Commences 

• 2 speed boats driven by FPD staff 

2:30pm – 3:30pm 

• Visit to the Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme on Ban Sen Island 

3:30pm – 4:30pm 

• Tour around Ba Mun and Tra Ngo Islands and return to Cai Rong 

4:30pm - 

• Refreshments at Sy Long’s Café & Hotel 

8pm – 9pm 

• Briefing for DAY 2 presentation and facilitation procedure 

(Frontier Project Office) 

DAY 1 END 

NOTE: The Following 2 days will be co-ordinated by a professional facilitator with 

the assistance of a translator. 

DAY 2 

8:00am-8:15am 

• Introduction to Day 2 Activities with recap of information from DAY 1 

(Professional facilitator/Trainer) 

8:15am-10:00am (their will be a short break halfway through the presentation) 

• Presentation of current laws under FPD Jurisdiction. 

- There application in Bai Tu Long Bay 

- Exercises and case studies to determine what is considered illegal 

(Mr. Bao from Central FPD will present and later to assist leading a discussion on 

National Park law with specific relevance to law in Bai Tu Long) 

10:00am-10:15am 

• Break 

10:15am-11:00am 

• Presentation of Fisheries regulations in marine national parks and their relevance 

to Bai Tu Long Bay Park Enforcement 


13


(Mr Chiem, senior scientist consultant, from the Ministry of Fisheries will give 

this presentation and lead a discussion on this topic) 

11:00am-12:00pm 

• Group work identifying enforcement difficulties both in terms of management and 

on-the-ground enforcement under the current regulations. Groups will be divided 

according to their individual responsibilities. (ie, Park Authority management, 

field staff, People’s Committee’s). Short Presentations on results will be made by 

group leaders 

12:00pm – 1:30pm 

• Lunch 

1:30pm-2:15pm 

• Case Study from another Protected Area including their application of national 

park laws and regulations 

(Mr. Lao from Xuan Son National Park will present this due to their effective 

enforcement and awareness programme) 

2:15pm-3:15pm 

• Conclusions on how the laws and regulations presented earlier relate to the case 

studies of Xuan Son with group work identifying strengths and weaknesses of 

practical enforcement in BTLB in comparison to case studies why the different 

results. 

3:15pm-3:30pm 

• Break 

3:30pm-4:15pm 

• Facilitated Group discussion on jurisdiction overlaps between the Park Authority 

and other organisations, and how these departments can co-ordinate efforts to 

address gaps in jurisdiction. Maps and diagrams will be used to determine the 

jurisdiction areas of different organisations. 

4:15pm-4:30pm 

• Wrap-up day’s activities and conclusions 

8pm – 9pm 

• Feedback from Day 2 and discussion on plan for DAY 3 

(Frontier Project Office) 

DAY 2 END 

DAY 3 

8:00am-8:15am 


14


• Introduction to DAY 3 activities 

8:15am-9:30am 

• Facilitated discussion - Identifying effective enforcement and areas for cooperation 

methods for Bai Tu Long National Park with all participants and 

establish best practice for legal enforcement, strengths and weaknesses, 

constraints and opportunities. Inter-departmental co-operation on park law 

enforcement will also be discussed. 

9:30am-9:45am 

• Break 

9:45am-11:00am 

• Continuation of group discussions 

11:00am-11:45am 

• Collation of information by group leaders and facilitator followed by presentations 

by group leaders on effective enforcement methods identified and plans for action 

11:45am – 12:00pm 

• Summary of workshop proceedings and decisions 

12:00pm – 1:30pm 

• Lunch with Final Address 

(Mr Tuy, Director of the BTLB Park Authority) 

WORKSHOP END 

7. Outputs 

• Workshop results compiled into a report and integrated into Park Management 

Plan 

• Laws and regulations of Bai Tu Long National Park compiled into a small booklet 

for use by FPD staff, both administrative and field as well as other relevant 

enforcement organisations. The booklet information would later be included as 

part a Bai Tui Long Park Authority manual, compiled by the Frontier-Vietnam 

Biodiversity Awareness Project and the Forest Research Programme with 

technical assistance from the Park Authority. 

• Workshop results published in Bai Tu Long NP Newsletter 

• Community Forum will be organised to discuss community participation in 

enforcement methods. 

8. Media Coverage 

• Voice of Vietnam Radio 

• VTV – Vietnamese National Television 

• Vietnam Daily News 


15


APPENDIX II 

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 

Mr. Leo Bottrill 

Good Morning, 

I would also like to extend my thanks to all of you attending today, particularly those 

of you who have had to come a long way. 

Some of you may be wondering why you have been asked to participate at a training 

workshop for the Bai Tu Long National Park Authority. In the next few minutes, I am 

going to very briefly explain why you all have been invited and what we are hoping to 

achieve over the next three days. 

Back in April, at a Planning Meeting organised by Frontier and the NPA, we 

discussed what we would focus on for the workshop-training component of the 

Frontier-Vietnam Biodiversity Awareness Project. A number of decisions were made 

that day, one being to hold a workshop discussing law in Bai Tu Long. 

Today’s workshop is a result of that decision. 

With the National Park Authority opening their office in April, a whole new system of 

laws and regulations come under their jurisdiction with implications for all people and 

organisations living and working in and around Bai Tu Long National Park. To begin 

forming a law enforcement strategy it is crucial that The Park Authority consult and 

co-operate with a wide spectrum of these people and organisations. 

Those of you invited here today, represent various organisations with legal or political 

responsibilities in Bai Tu Long NP. With your assistance and input we aim to explore 

ways in which all our various organisations can contribute to the conservation of the 

Bai Tu Long through effective and participatory enforcement of the laws that now 

govern it. To achieve this aim the workshop has been divided into roughly three 

different sections, a different one for each day. 

Today, we will learn about the context of the National Park, or basically why has one 

been created in Bai Tu Long. Representatives from IEBR, Frontier-Vietnam, and the 

Ministry of Fisheries will explain the importance and value of conserving the 

biodiversity of Bai Tu Long. They will also explain the threats placed upon its various 

flora and fauna and predict what will happen if exploitation continues unchecked. 

On Tuesday, representatives from Kiem Lam and Ministry of Fisheries will present 

the various laws and regulations which govern the marine and terrestrial environment 

of the park. We will then invite you to discuss some of the difficulties of law 


16


enforcement in Bai Tu Long. A presentation by the director of Xuan Son NP on how 

they tackled law enforcement will hopefully assist your discussions. We will also try 

and focus on ways in which we can co-operate between different organisations. 

Finally on Wednesday, after we have established all the major difficulties with park 

law enforcement, we will hold a series of discussions on how efforts can be improved. 

The goal will be to produce a strategy for action so we can progress from discussion 

to practical enforcement measures within the park. 

To achieve the aims of workshop it is imperative that we recognise the need for 

improved enforcement of the national park. As we will hear today from experts on Bai 

Tu Long’s biodiversity, the park is under considerable threat from a number of 

unsustainable and illegal logging, hunting, and fishing practices. I am confident, 

however, that with the variety of skills and experience of the participants at this 

workshop, we can form a practical enforcement strategy that will strengthen efforts to 

conserve the valuable biodiversity of Bai Tu Long. 

Thank you again for attending, and I will now hand you over to Dr. Nguyen Cu who 

will explain the importance of biodiversity conservation and National Parks. 


17


APPENDIX III 

INTRODUCTION TO BIODIVERSITY PRESENTATION 

Dr. Nguyen Cu 

What is biodiversity 

The word bio-diversity means the abundance of life on the earth. It includes all the gene 

sources, the species and the eco-systems that we are one part of. Bio-diversity is a concept 

which says the abundance level of nature, all the natural resources were made by all the 

forms of life on the earth which present in those levels: 

• Diversity in gene source and genotype of each species in the biological world 

• Diversity in species: 

• Diversity in ecosystems and habitats. 

The value of bio-diversity 

• Supply food, energy, medicine…for people 

• Play a vital role in economic of all the world as well as each country 

• Ensure foods safety, all the main food plants need the new gene resources from 

the wild plants. Not only that but the oceans and lakes also supply about 100 

million tones of its products per year. 

• Ensure the health of people, there are about 119 agents which were taken from 

90 species of plant for medicinal purpose, 80% population in those developing 

countries in the world are using medicinal plants to take of their health. 

• Bio-diversity is very important for the entertainment and tourism as well like 

eco-tourism… 

• Bio-diversity take part in protecting the native culture. 

In general, bio-diversity has an unchangeable value in culture as well as in education and the 

most important thing is bio-diversity is the basic of our life, specially in science, agriculture, 

industry and medicine. 

The loss of bio-diversity in the world is really serious, we have only known about 1,4 million 

species compare with 5-30 million species( approximate) on the earth, right now. If there are 

about 10 million species of fauna and flora on the earth, with the situation like now, each year 

we should loss 50.000 species( 137 species a day and 8 species an hour). 

Cause 

The main reason of this situation is the habitat of species is over curtailing, separating or 

exploiting day by day and once more reason is pollution( food, water and habitat…). All that 

reason come from population situation over increasing and the knowledge about bio-diversity 

of almost people in the world, specially in those developing countries, are very poor. 

Human now aware that the loss of bio-diversity is increasing and we know that it’s 

impossible to re-create the species which were disappeared. 


18


Bio-diversity in Viet Nam - The diversity of climate and terrain created the abundance of 

nature in Viet Nam. There were many type of tropical eco-systems established, they include 

types of forest which distributed in different heights or in tidal zones along sea banks with the 

abundance of fauna and flora in that. Flora and vegetational resource 

There are about 800 species of weed, 2000 species of alga, 6000 species of fungus which 

were discovered in Viet Nam right now. According to the scientists, there are about 12000 

species of vegetation in Viet Nam, 2300 species are using for 

food,wood,oil,medicine…Vegetation in Viet Nam is high in endemicity, no endemic family 

but 3% genus and 40% species are endemic( Thai Van Trung, 1970). There are about 33% 

vegetational species in the North of Viet Nam concentrated in Hoang Lien Son mountain, rain 

forest in the North of Centre of Viet Nam, Ngoc Linh mountain and Lam Vien highland. 

Many local endemic species only met in a narrow area with a poor amount because the 

forests there were curtailed into many small areas or over exploited. 

Due to structural characteristic so normally there’s no predominant specie in all types of rainforest, 

that is the reason why rain-forests become very poor when it was exploited with a high 

intensity. This situation happened with those economic species like: Afzelia xylocarpa, 

Sindora sianensis, Morinda officinalis, Glyptostrobus pensilis, Cupessus terbulosa, 

Calocedrus macrolepis… Fauna and Animal resource. The fauna in Viet Nam is really 

plentiful, 472 species of fresh-water fish, 2000 species of salt-water fish, 275 species of 

mammal, 828 species of bird, 180 species of reptile, 80 species of amphibian… were 

discovered. Not only abundant in species composition but there are also some special 

characteristics which represent for the fauna in South East Asia. 

Like the flora, the fauna in Viet Nam has some endemic species, discovered 100 species and 

sub-species of bird, 78 species and sub-species of mammal, 60 species of fresh-water fish 

…are endemic. Some of bird species wre discovered recently(1996-2001) like: Garrulax 

ngoclinhensis, G.konkakinhensis and Actinodura sodangorum… Specially, there are four new 

mamal species just discovered : Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (1992), Megamuntiacus 

vuquangensis (1993), Muntiacus truongsonensis (1996) and Pseudonovibos spiralis ( ). 

According to MacKinnon J’s report(1986) Viet nam has a rich specie composition and high 

endemicity in Indochina area, for example: there are 21 species of monkey in Indochina, 17 

species of them are in Viet nam and 7 species in that are endemic. 

Specie group In Viet Nam(SV) In the world(sw) SV/SW (%) 

Mammal 276 4000 6.8 

Bird 800 9040 8.8 

Reptile 180 6300 2.9 

Amphibian 80 4184 2.0 

Fish 2470 19000 3.0 

Vegetation 7000 220000 3.2 

The average ratio in bio-diversity in all the world is 6.2%, for sure that there are a lot of 

animal and vegetation species in Viet nam which haven’t been discovered yet. 


19


-Ecology diversity 

There are a lot of different types of forest in Viet Nam like: lime-stone forest, soil-mountain 

forest, rain forest ever- green, mangrove, bamboo forest … 

Not only that but Viet Nam also has many flood lands, the largest one is Mekong river flat 

area(3.9 million ha) and the second one is Red river flat area(1.29 million ha). Those are the 

main food products areas and important habitats for many animal species like: water-birds, 

migratory-birds in the South east Asia as well as in all the world. 

About Bai Tu Long National park. 

Bai Tu Long National Park(15.738 ha) located in Quang Ninh province, North-East of Viet 

Nam. It was established in June, 2001 and started working in April, 2002 on the basic of Ba 

Mun Natural Reserve Area combine with 20 smaller islands in Bai Tu Long bay. 

Table 1. Sea protection areas in the North-East of Viet Nam 

( BirdLife/FFI, 2001, ADB, 1999) 

No Name Area 

(ha) 

A 

National Park 

Note 

1 Bai Tu Long 15783 Established on the basic of Ba Mun 

Natural Reserve Area (6-2001) 

2 Cat Ba 15200 Established in 1997 

B 

Natural Reserve Area 

1 Thai Thuy 13696 Promoted ( Anon 1996) 

2 Bach Long Vi island 90.000 Promoted ( ADB 1999) 

3 Co To island 7850 Sea protection area, promoted (1999) 

4 Tien Hai 12500 Promoted (Anon, 1995) 

5 Tien Lang 13696 Promoted (Anon, 1997) 

C Culture- History area 

1 Bai Chay 1148 Promoted (1997) 

2 Ha long archipelago 43400 World heritage (1994) 

3 Do Son 267 Promoted (1986) 

Bai Tu Long National Park has a high bio-diversity due to the abundant of wild life as 

well as marine life with a lot of rare and economic species which need to be protected( 

see Bai Tu Long National Park’s report). Specially is the sea grass eco-system and may 

be some of the last surviving Dugong here. Not only that but Bai Tu Long bay is also a 

good place where has many landscapes like Cai De cave, caves in Ban Sen island, 

Nguoi Xua cave… 

A. Bio-diversity conservation in Viet Nam 

1-Traditional protection and bio-diversity protection 

Why do we need to protect bio-diversity Long time ago, some countries in the world 

began protecting animal species and building reserve areas and they were successful. 


20


According to IUCN’s standard, the protected areas need to meet the established goals as 

10% compare with the earth area. However, we could see that there are about 40-140 

species disappeared day by day so if we only protect about 10% area on the earth and 

leave the rest 90% what should be consequent That’s the reason why we have to find 

out the best way to exploit and use all natural resources. 

Some people still keep suspecting about the necessity of bio-diversity protection, they 

believe that we are living in a prosperous time with a high living standard so don’t need 

to be so worry like that. They are so happy with the value they got from exploiting 

natural resources but they don’t care or they forget about the decrease of it. 

People don’t think that protecting bio-diversity is necessary because of some reasons 

below: 

People couldn’t see the loss of bio-diversity so easily. 

• The loss of bio-diversity doesn’t impact directly and immediately into people’s 

life. 

• There are a lack of bio-diversity knowledge so they couldn’t realize that 

protecting the bio-diversity means they are saving their own life. 

• Demand and imperativeness of bio-diversity protection in Viet Nam 

• Threats and challenges 

Decrease in quality and area of all types of forest( Forest land area is about 19 million 

ha but in fact that there are only 9 million ha forest ). Forest quality is decreasing with a 

high rate, higher than coverage decrease rate, artificial forest(10%) doesn’t have biodiversity 

value like primary forest( BAP). 

-Exploiting, hunting and wild animal commerce … are increasing with high intensity 

-Pollution, eroding…. 

-Managing situation: not really focus in managing water lands, forests for specially 

purposes and marine protection areas. There isn’t any department which has enough 

power to manage those areas. 

-There are some problems about the law and the policy in protection the forest… 

-Not so good at carrying the laws and the relevant documents into effect. 

-There is a lack of environmental education, bio-diversity awareness. 

-Poverty, population explosion and “open” policy. 

-Some opinions about the threats to marine environment 

-Pollution from the soil 

-Marine pollution 

-Exploiting activities: fishing, sea expansion … 

-Fishing by dynamite 

-Coral exploiting… 

-Other threats 

Species threatened 

According to Vietnamese red book: In vegetational part, there are 356 species are being 

threatened . In animal part, there are 365 species( 78 species of mammal, 83 species of 

bird, 55 species of reptile-amphibian, 40 species of fresh water fish, 39 species of sea 

fish, 25 species of fresh water invertebrate, 86 species of sea invertebrate… 

Government efforts in bio-diversity conservation. 

Building a system of special uses forests( see table 2) 


21


Table 2: Special uses forest in Viet Nam 

Classify Amount Area(ha) 

I- National park 16 489,559 

II-Natural reserve area 66 1,740,684 

a. Natural reserve area 53 1,635,235 

b. Specie/Habitat reserve area 13 105,449 

III-Landscape protecting area 38 180,668 

Total 120 2,410,911 

Law and relevant documents 

From 1976 to now, there are more than 500 legal documents( about environmental 

protection and natural conservation) were made in Viet Nam. 

-Law of protecting and developing forest(1991) 

-Law of water resource(1999) 

-Land law(1987), reformed in 1993. 

-Law of environmental protection(1994) 

-Decree of natural resources(1989) 

-Decree of protecting water sources(1989) 

-Law of navigation(1990) 

-National plan of bio-diversity(1995) 

-Regulation of special uses forest(2001) 

-Decree No 26/CP(1996) 


-Circular letter No 56(1999) 


-Law of protecting and developing aquatic product resource(1989) 


-Law of penal action(1999) 

-And some other relevant documents … 

I. The Role of National Parks in Biodiversity Conservation 

-Regulation No 08-2001 confirmed the role of national park in conservation, 

education, tourism, entertainment … 

-Carrying some programs in to effect like: Fresh water in country side, decrease 

pressure in conservation … 

-Regulation No 08 about dividing function sub-region and managing, protecting regime 

in each sub-region. According to the situation, some national parks could establish some 

sub-regions like: residential area, management area … as well as making responsibility 

for FPD in communicating and training for the community. 

-Expanding forest programs on the basic of programs 661, 135 … 

-Expanding the education program in bio-diversity awareness for the community and 

visitor. 

-Bio-diversity awareness program 2001-2010(MOSTE/NEA) 


22


II. Responsibility of organisations and international community’s efforts in biodiversity 

conservation in Viet nam. 

-Ministry of Resources and Environment. 

-Ministry of Rural Agricultural Development 

-Ministry of Aquiculture 

-Ministry of Education- Training 

-Ministry of Public Health. 

-Governments, NGOs, and volunteers 

-Co-operating by projects 

-Support by providing experts, technical equipments. 

III. Bio-diversity protection in Viet Nam is a national responsibility 

Viet Nam has signed in those international conventions and agreements: 

-Bio-diversity Convention(1983) 

-CITES Convention(1994) 

-RAMSAR Convention(1989) 

-Me Kong river Agreement(1994) and established Me Kong river Committee in Viet 

Nam 

-Convention about sea way transport. 

-Convention about Migratory species-CMS(2001) 

Nationally 

-Developing and expanding conservation areas, carrying ICDP project into effect, 

making programs about socio and economic, decreasing pressure from community to 

bio-diversity, training, communicating about bio-diversity awareness…and recently the 

government just established the Ministry of Resource and Environment. 

-Doing the project” Natural reserve areas system management”(SPAM,VN00215, 01). 

-Making the program of Bio-diversity awareness 2001-2010. 

-Improving and reforming the law and relevant documents. 

+Internationally 

-Undertake responsibilities of a convention member, promote conservation activities, 

protect the threatened species in the country, in South East Asia as well as in the world. 

Established RAMSAR area( Xuan Thuy ) and increasing the natural reserve area… 

-Developing international co-operations with those NGOs like : IUCN, WWF, FAO, 

FRONTIER, FFI, BIRD LIFE. 


23


I. General Concepts 

APPENDIX IV 

MARINE LIFE: RESOURCES AND THREATS 

Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem- Ministry of Fisheries, Hanoi 

What is biodiversity 

Bio-diversity refers to the abundance of life on the earth, from the animal to the 

bacteria and virus. 

Bio-diversity is present in three aspects: 

- Heredity-diversity: the abundance in volume and the diversity of genes in each 

community or individuality. 

-Specie-diversity: the richness, volume and abundance of species in the eco-system. 

-Eco-diversity: the abundance of status and form in the eco-systems that cannot be 

replaced because of its importance, such as: 

a)Economic Value: Diversity is a natural resource which guarantees human existence 

and development. 

b)Ecological and Environmental Value: Heredity-diversity plays a vital role in 

controlling climate, cleaning air and water, protecting land and preventing disease. 

c)Aesthetic Value: Creating landscapes of aesthetic interest and beauty. 

Marine bio-diversity 

Marine bio-diversity has a large variety of fauna and flora compared with other parts 

of the global bio-sphere, diverse from bacteria and plankton to marine mammals. 

With the such potential within marine biodiversity, oceans and sea are treated as the 

cradle of life in the past and as the hope of humans in the future. Many coastal 

countries including Viet-Nam are exploiting this potential in surrounding oceans and 

seas for economic benefit. The 21 st century will be see oceans and seas become an 

increasing economic priority for many nations but also a growing conservation 

priority as well. 

What is a food chain 

To explain about the existence and development of all species, a concept called the 

”food chain” is used. Each creature has two responsibilities: to be responsible to other 

species in the community (supply food, create biotic-environment…) and maintain its 

own race. Responsibility to other species is arranged in a certain order called a “food 

chain “. 

“Food chain” in oceans and sea could be arranged as below: 


24


1- First nutrition group: producer creature, include: plankton species … 

2- Second nutrition group: herbivore, include: plankton, benthos, Dugong … 

3- Third nutrition group: carnivore, include: invertebrate groups, fish species and 

coral… 

4- Fourth nutrition group: omnivores 

5- Final nutrition group: decomposers 

II. Typical marine and coastal eco-systems 

Coral Eco-systems 

Coral reefs are distributed in tropical and sub-tropical sea areas, and limited from 

latitude 30 o 00’N to 30 o 00’S, in water temperatures between 18-40 o , salinity 32-42%, 

high clarity and between 0-30m depth and occupying 0.1% area of the earth’s surface 

(Smith, 1978). 

Coral reef has three basic functions: 

-Accumulating nutrition 

-Creating habitats for a huge variety aquatic species 

-Protecting land from erosion 

Potential and benefits from coral in Viet Nam 

A full report on coral reefs has yet to be completed for Viet-Nam. There are 

approximately 40,000ha coral reef distributed inshore, including 2000ha in the Gulf of 

Tonkin. This can be found offshore in Bai Tu Long and Ha Long archipelago, Cat 

Ba, Co To, Long Chau, and Bach Long Vi island. 

Coral distributed with a high coverage in some areas: Co To, Ba Mun, Sau Nam, 

South East Cat Ba, Big Long Chau, Bach Long Vi, and Con Co. 

-Value of coral reef: following Chou Loke Ming’s report, 1992 (Singapo) one coral 

reef in Pacific ocean containing at least 3000 different species. 

-Economic Benefits of aquatic products 

1. Fish : there are 10 species of food and 400 ornamental fish species in a coral reef. 

2. Invertebrate: there are many species but only 13 typical species which could be 

used for food, medicine… 

3. Crustacean: 7 economic species of lobster 

4. Echinoderm: 9 species but the most importance species are sea cucumber and sea 

toad, they are being exploited to export. 

5. Coelenterate : 57 species, specially are Cophea cornifera and Anthipathen 

dichotoma 

6. Sea weed: the most important one is Sargassum ssp . 

7. Reptile: turtle 

Table 1: Suvey result in Cat Ba and Co To 

Family 

Number of species 


25


- Plant plankton 

- Sea weed 

- Zooplankton 

- Sea worm 

- Crustacean 

- Invertebrate 

- Echinoderm 

- Coral 

- Reef fish 

Co To Cat Ba 

127 

180 

74 

70 

54 

97 

3 

78 

15 

76 

69 

280 

3 

13 

114 

163 

45 

34 

Mangrove ecology 

There are 15x10 6 ha of mangrove on the earth, 6 millions ha of mangrove are found in 

Asia. Mangrove ecology play a vital role to the sea and coastal: 

-Supplying products from aquatic fauna and flora. 

-Guarantees important conditions for the existence and development of all aquatic 

species 

-Protecting sea banks from eroding 

-Habitats for many species 

-Good for eco-tourism. 

Mangrove in Viet Nam 

Before the war, mangrove area in Viet Nam were about 400,000 ha, included 250,000 

ha in the South (P.Maurand,1943). Since 1975 to now, mangrove area have changing 

by the war, and through economic development. Following some survey documents, 

there are only 100,000 ha of mangrove in Viet nam now but not many virgin 

mangroves remain. 

There are about 31,000 ha of mangrove in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong sea areas: 

-Bach Dang river: 20,000 ha 

-Ha Long: 380 ha 

-Tien Lang: 790 ha 

Table 2: Mangrove fauna and flora in Quang Ninh- Hai Phong 

Group Number of species % Number of family 

- Sea weed 

16 

3,2 

7 

- Grass 

3 

0,5 

2 

- Salt water trees 36 

7,4 

24 

- Benthos 

306 

62,1 

95 

- Fish 

90 

18,3 

55 

- Reptile 

5 

1,0 

1 

- Bird 

37 

7,5 

Sea grass ecology 


26


Species of sea grass develop at depths of around 6m in coast areas and around islands. 

They are a very important part of coastal ecology with functions such as: supplying 

nutrition for human, food, habitats, and breeding areas for aquatic species. Sea grass 

also protects sea banks from eroding. 

In Viet nam, there haven’t been any research programmes on sea grass ecology 

however, in 1954, while doing some surveys about sea weed in Nha Trang, a scientist 

called Dawson described 4 species of sea grass. Kalugina and his survey team 

mentioned 2 species of sea grass in 1998. A Vietnamese scientist, Nguyen Van Tien 

mentioned a further 5 species of sea weed in his survey report in Hai Phong. 

Following survey results, 662 species of sea weed were identified, for example: 77 

species of Cyanophyta, 309 species of Rhodophyta, 124 species of Phaeophyta, 152 

species of green sea weed. 

There are 11 species of sea grass identified and they distributed in Quang Ninh-Hai 

Phong sea areas. 

III. Benefit of Marine products 

1. General characteristics of Marine Fish in Viet nam 

Viet nam’s marine area located in the tropical-monsoon area, some fish species here 

are endemic for tropical sea fish in some characteristics. 

Size 

Sea fish species in Viet Nam aren’t particularly large, most of them being less than 

200 mm length. They can be divided into four groups listed below: 

• Group 1: 100 mm, includes: Du specie, Luong specie, Mien Sanh specie, 

Cang specie, Trac species… 

• Group 3: >200 mm, includes: Hong specie, Kem specie, Moi species … 

• Group 4: >500 mm, includes: Thu specie, Dua species … 

Life-span 

Marine fish species in Viet Nam have a short life, in the inshore areas between 1-3 

years and in offshore areas between 4-5 years. 

Growth rate 

Because of the short life the growth rate of fish species is fastest in the first year and 

reduces in subsequent years. 

Breeding 

Sea fish species breed all the time in Viet-Nam however the main breeding season for 

most of fish species is from March to June. In the Center and the South, breeding 

season is longer, from February to December. 


27


Some of fish species breed in deep areas such as: Thu species, Ngu species and Chuon 

species, the rest breed inshore where water is less deep. 

Food composition for most marine fish species is diversified through their 

distribution. Most species are omnivores, although some eat plankton and benthos. 

Specie composition 

There are approximately 2030 fish species identified in Viet Nam sea area, included 

100 commericial species. 

Volume and exploiting potentiality 

Following the latest survey report, there are about 4 million tonnes of marine fish in 

Viet Nam of which around 1.6 to 1.7 million tonnes could be exploited. 

2. Benefit of sea shrimp 

There are about 225 species of shrimp( 69 genious and 6 families ) Viet Nam’s marine 

area, for example: Penaeidae family- 59 species, Solenoceridae family-12 species, 

Lobster-3 species, Scyllaridae family-9 species … in those species there are 43 

economic species( 45 %). Volume of sea shrimp is about 54,000 tonnes, exploiting 

potentiality about 30,000 tones. 

3.Benefit of squid 

There are about 53 species of squid in Viet nam( 12 genious, 6 families ), included 

some commercial species, for example: Sepioteuthis lessoniana, Loligo chinensis, 

Loligo duvauceli, Loligo edulis, Loligo singhalensis… 

IV. Eploiting marine resources and the threats 

1. Raising aquatic products 

Recently, raising aquatic products is developing in Viet nam, that could help 

commercially but it brings some threats such as:: 

• Reduce mangrove area 

• Polluted water by waste food, chemicals 

2. Exploiting aquatic products 

Exploiting intensity is increasing, especially between 1990 to 2000 and averaging 6% 

per year. This has caused a decrease in the volume of aquatic products and some 

species of aquatic products have disappeared. 

3.Threats from other reasons 

• Agriculture 

• Industries 

• Tourism 


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APPENDIX V 

INTRODUCING FISHING LAWS AND ITS CONNECTION WITH 

PROTECTING AQUATIC LIFE AND HABITATS. 

Mr. Nguyen Van Chiem 

Administrative Management in Aquaculture 

Central 

Ministry of Aquaculture 

-Department : 

1.Planning and investing 

2.Personnel- Labour 

3.Science- Technology 

4.International collaboration 

5.Fishing 

6.Finance-Accounting 

7.Legislation 

Locally 

Department of Aquaculture 

-Technical department 

-Department of aquatic resource protection 

-Center of encourage fishing 

-Office 

-Inspector 

-Department of aquatic resource protection 

-Centre of Fish Cultivation. 

Law and policy system in Fishing 

• Policies for controlling directly the intensity from exploiting aquatic resource 

• Policies for supporting and developing communities 

• Policies for encouraging organizations to protect and develop aquatic resource and 

its habitats. 

The fishing law system includes many documents such as: 

State law of protecting and developing aquatic resource( 4/25/1989) 

There are five decrees, specifically decree No 48/CP about financial punishment with 

violating activities in protecting aquatic resources. 

Many instructions from the Prime Minister, including the one No 130-CT about 

establishing the department of aquatic resource protection, that is the basis for 

building and developing system of aquatic resource organizations to observe fishing 

activities. 

Many documents from Ministry of Aquaculture… 

State law of protecting and developing aquatic resource 

1.Composition 

There are 6 chapters and 29 statements as follow: 

- Chapter 1: General regulations( 7 statements ) 


29


- Chapter 2: Protecting and developing aquatic resources ( 8 statements ) 

- Chapter 3: Managing, protecting and developing aquatic resource activities( 6 

statements) 

- Chapter 4: International relations and collaboration(4 statements ) 

- Chapter 5: Commend and reward- Punishment ( 2 statements) 

- Chapter 6: ( 2 statements) 

Introducing the contents of this state law 

Chapter 1 

Conceptions about aquatic resource and the habitats of aquatic life 

Responsibility and competence of departments, socio organizations … in managing 

aquatic resource. 

Government policy to the activities in protecting and developing aquatic resources. 

Chapter 2 

Protecting habitats of aquatic life. 

Controlling activities from exploiting aquatic life. 

Policy of encouraging, investing for aquatic resource protection and development. 

Chapter 3 

Responsibility of state departments like: Government, Ministry of Aquaculture, 

People’s Committees … in managing and protecting aquatic resource. 

Decree No 48/CP 

1.Composition 

There are 4 chapters and 14 statements in this decree. 

-Chapter1: General regulations (3 statements ) 

-Chapter2: Punishing levels and punishing form to the violating activities in 

protecting aquatic resource (7 statements) 

-Chapter3: Competence, formality and procedure in punishment (2 statements). 

-Chapter4: Fulfillment statement (2 statements). 

2. Main contents 

-Chapter1: Power of Decree No 48/CP 

-Chapter2: Violating activities in protecting the habitats of aquatic life, protecting 

aquatic species, exploiting aquatic resources, fishing boats, raising aquatic products 

… 

-Chapter3: Competence in punishing decision. 

1.Competence of commune, precinct, town leader in punishment 

a) Warning punishment. 

b) Pecuniary penalty (200.000 VND ) 

c) Confiscate the proofs, means (500.000 VND ) 

d) Compel violator to pay compensation (500.000 VND ) 

e) Compel violator to recreate initial status 

2.Competence of district, city ( belong directly to province authority ) leader. 

a) Warning punishment 


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b) Pecuniary penalty (10.000.000 VND) 

c) Confiscate the right of using permits. 

d) Confiscate proofs, means use for violating 


f) Compel violator to pay compensation (1.000.000 VND) 

3.Leader of province, city (belong directly to central) 

a) Do those statements a, c, d, e, f 

b) Pecuniary penalty( to 100.000.000 VND ) 

4. Inspector of protecting aquatic resource 


b) Pecuniary penalty (200.000 VND) 

c) Confiscate proofs, means use for violating (500.000 VND) 

d) Compel violator to recreate initial status 

e) Compel violator to pay compensation 

5.Chief inspecting and Leader of Aquaculture Department at provincial level 



c) Confiscate the right of using permit 

d) Confiscate proofs, means for violating 


f) Compel violator to pay compensation (1.000.000 VND) 

6.Central Chief inspecting 

a) Punishment warning 


c) Confiscate the right of the use of permit 

d) Confiscate proofs, means for violation 


f) Compel violator to pay compensation (to 1.000.000 VND) 

Circular letter for conducting State law and decree No. 195 (1990) 

There are five parts in its content 

1.Protecting the habitats of aquatic life 

- Not allow for fishing by dynamite 

- Not allow for fishing in coral area 

- Responsibility of organization or personnel in exploiting aquatic products 

- Not allow for use of some equipment in fishing. 

- Restricted exploiting volume 

- Not allow for exploiting some species 

2.Restrict exploiting area 

3. International collaboration 

4.Carry into effect 


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APPENDIX VI 

SCRIPT OF VIETNAM NEWS ARTICLE 

Viet Nam’s newest marine park at risk from logging and poaching 

HA NOI – Illegal logging, fishing and poaching threaten to spoil Viet Nam’s newest 

national marine park in Bai Tu Long Bay unless swift action is taken to preserve its 

natural wealth. 

And participants from the National Park Authority and various District and 

Commune organisations explored ways to do just that at a recent workshop organised 

by Frontier-Vietnam Biodiversity Awareness Project. 

Dr Nguyen Cu, from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, 

expressed satisfaction with the seminar: ‘It will be very helpful to the national park in 

its efforts to the protect biodiversity of Bai Tu Long’. 

However, enforcing the law in one of the country’s newest and most beautiful 

reserves will not be a lark as it large areas of both terrestrial and marine ecology. 

The workshop was the first session of an ongoing park staff training 

programme under the Frontier-Vietnam Biodiversity Awareness Project. 

Planned future workshops will cover a broad range of topics from surveying 

and monitoring ecosystems to handling boats and environmental education. 

Other activities will include park newsletters, fieldguides and posters of Bai 

Tu Long’s wildlife and the construction of a nature centre. The project is funded by a 

grant from the British Government’s Darwin Initiative. 

The workshop decided to improve enforcement efforts, the park authority 

would increase its patrols and blitz the park’s surrounding communes with an 

intensive awareness campaign. - VNS 


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APPENDIX VII 

LIST OF WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS 

No Name Office Position 

1 Pham Tuan Hung BTL NPA Vice Director 

2 Ngo Van Dinh BTL NPA Head of 

Science Dep 

3 Nguyen Dinh Ung BTL NPA Head of 

Conservation 

Dep 

4 Pham Xuan Dieu BTL NPA Staff 

5 Hoang Van Khanh BTL NPA Staff 

6 Pham Xuan Phuong BTL NPA Staff 

7 Luong Xuan Chin BTL NPA Head of 

Financial Dep 

8 Phan Thi Thai BTL NPA Staff 

9 Nguyen Anh Tuan NPA BTL Staff 

10 Pham Van Si Van Don FPD Head of Dep 

11 Nguyen Cao Yen Van Don FPD Staff 

12 Nguyen Van Kien Van Don FPD Staff 

13 Nguyen The Phuong Van Don FPD Staff 

14 Nguyen Van Khoa Van Don FPD Staff 

15 Pham Huy Chuc Van Don FPD Staff 

16 Nguyen Van Sau Van Don FPD Staff 

17 Le Van Khai Van Don FPD Staff 

18 Dinh Cong Dien Van Don FPD Staff 

19 Hoang Minh Ha Van Don FPD Staff 

20 Pham Hung Thanh Boder Army Head of Dep 

21 Commune Leader Minh Chau 

22 Commune Leader Quan Lan 

23 Commune Leader Ban Sen 

24 Commune Leader Van Yen 

25 Commune Leader Ha Long 

26 Nguyen Trung Hien Aquatic Dep Head of Dep 

27 Nguyen Van Son Economic Dep Staff 

28 VTV Film crew VTV 



34 Participant of Police Van Don Police 


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Frontier Vietnam Environmental Research Law in Bai Tu Long Bay ...

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