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

Frontier-Vietnam Environmental Research Report 27
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.
Law enforcement workshop: Bai Tu Long Bay: 162/10/022
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