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01.05.2016

Vietnam: Protest rally against Taiwan firm over mass fish deaths

Demonstrators who marched around Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi carried banners reading 'Formosa out of Vietnam', 'The sea dies, we die' and 'Save our sea'.


By: AFP | Hanoi | Published:May 1, 2016 2:05 pm
Source- google MapsSource- google Maps

Hundreds of people gathered o­n Sunday in the Vietnamese capital to protest against a Taiwanese company suspected of involvement in a toxic leak that has hit the fishing industry along the central coast.

Tonnes of dead clams were found last week in Ha Tinh province where fish began washing up o­n beaches earlier in April, sparking a public outcry.

The area is home to a large steel mill run by a Taiwanese conglomerate, Formosa.

Demonstrators who marched around Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi carried banners reading ‘Formosa out of Vietnam’, ‘The sea dies, we die’ and ‘Save our sea’.

Reports o­n social media said hundreds of demonstrators also massed in Ho Chi Minh City in the south.Although an official inquiry is continuing, state-run media has pointed the finger at a 1.5 kilometre waste water pipeline from Formosa’s multi-billion dollar steel plant to the ocean.

The company has a long history of environmental scandals spanning the globe, although the probe has yet to directly link Formosa’s operations to the fish poisoning.

Chou Chun Fan, a Formosa company official, was sacked after he said Vietnamese “need to choose whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a state-of-the-art steel mill”.

The company apologised for the comments and has launched its own inquiry.

“I think Formosa knows that their acts caused environmental pollution,” said Vu Cong Thuan, 50, a demonstrator in Hanoi.

“Formosa’s plant must be closed,” Thuan told AFP.

Officials in the communist nation have admitted failures in how they handled the incident.

“Our response to the environmental disaster was slow,” said Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha in the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Formosa has been ordered to raise the pipeline “to make it easier for monitoring and supervision”, he added.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has vowed to “seriously punish” any party found responsible.

Media reports earlier said Formosa had imported some 300 tonnes of toxic chemicals to clean the waste-water pipeline, a shipment the Vietnam Environment Administration said it was unaware of.

Rally in Vietnam Over Mysterious Mass Fish Deaths

    • Demonstrators, holding signs to protest against Taiwanese enterprise Formosa Plastic and environmental-friendly messages, Hanoi, Vietnam May 1, 2016.

    Demonstrators, holding signs to protest against Taiwanese enterprise Formosa Plastic and environmental-friendly messages, Hanoi, Vietnam May 1, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

    Authorities say huge numbers of dead fish have appeared at farms and o­n beaches since April 6. 

    Hundreds of people demonstrated in Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi o­n Sunday, against a Taiwanese firm they accuse of causing mass fish deaths along the country's central coast, with some also blaming the government for a sluggish response to a major environmental disaster.

    Though an official investigation has found no links between the fish deaths and a US $10.6 billion coastal steel plant run by a unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics, public anger against the company has not abated.

    Hundreds gathered holding banners that said: "Formosa destroying the environment is a crime" and "Who poisoned the central region's waters?"

    Demonstrations are rare in Vietnam and police are usually quick to disperes them. o­n Sunday they cleared traffic to allow demonstrators to do a lap of a big lake in central Hanoi.

    Huge numbers of dead fish have appeared at farms and o­n beaches since April 6, impacting 200 kilometers of coastline in four provinces, with no known cause.

    The environment minister has demanded Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh dig up its waste pipe at the steel project to enable government to monitor its discharge.

    The government's initial probe said the cause could be "red tide", when algae blooms and produces toxins, or a release of toxic chemicals by humans.

    Protests in Vietnam over mass fish deaths

    IANS  |  Hanoi 

    Hundreds of people gathered in Vietnam's capital Hanoi o­n Sunday to protest a Taiwanese company causing pollution that has led to mass deaths of fish in the country's central coast.

    A steel unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group has come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly blighting fisheries o­n Vietnam's central coast by releasing untreated wastewater into the sea, EFE news reported.

    Thousands of dead fish have been washing up o­n Vietnamese beaches, causing public alarm and reportedly damaging the livelihoods of local fishermen.

    Around 300 protestors joined the rally outside Hanoi Opera House.

    Participants waved an array of banners bearing slogans such as 'Formosa destroys the environment, which is a crime', 'We need sea, we need fish, we don't need Formosa', and 'Vietnam People Save The Sea', as they marched through the city.

    Fisherman Nguyen Xuan Thanh told the local daily Tuoi Tre that he and others saw "muddy yellow" water being discharged from the pipe just days before dead fish were first reported o­n April 6.

    He claimed the wastewater "smelled so bad that I felt suffocated".

    Chou Chun Fan, Formosa Ha Tinh's external relations manager, caused further outrage when he said local communities needed to decide whether they wanted marine life or foreign investment.

    The company has since apologised for his comments.

    Teams of environmental experts have been dispatched to the area to investigate the fish deaths.

    Vietnam's central provinces are heavily dependent o­n the seafood industry, with the country earning some $6.6 billion from fishery exports last year.

    --IANS


    Vietnam protest over mystery fish deaths

    • 1 hour ago
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    • From the sectionAsia
    Vietnamese protesters hold banners reading "Formosa destroys the environment, which is a crime" during a rally in Hanoi o­n 1 May, 2016Image copyrightEPA
    Image captionIn a rare move, police cleared roads for the demonstrators

    Hundreds of people have held a rare protest in Vietnam against the unexplained mass death of fish o­n the country's central coast.

    Vast numbers of dead fish have appeared across some 200km (125 miles) of coastline since early April.

    A government investigation has so far found no links to a steel plant owned by Taiwanese firm Formosa Plastics.

    But many of the demonstrators in Hanoi blamed the company, and carried placards saying "Formosa Out".

    Other signs read "Formosa destroying the environment is a crime" and "Who poisoned the central region's waters?"

    Demonstrators, holding signs, say they are demanding cleaner waters in the central regions after mass fish deaths in recent weeks, in Hanoi, Vietnam May 1, 2016Image copyrightReuters
    Image captionFishermen in the affected area are banned from selling their stocks

    On Friday Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha said the die-off was "a very huge and serious environment disaster" and admitted that the government had been slow to react.

    He said Formosa Plastics had been ordered to dig up an illegal waste pipe at its plant. The company has said there is no evidence that it linked to the die-off. Investigations into the cause are continuing.

    Large protests are rare in Vietnam, but police agreed to clear roads to allow Sunday's demonstration to go ahead.

    A villager shows dead sea fish he collected o­n a beach in Phu Loc district, in the central province of Thua Thien Hue o­n April 21, 2016Image copyrightAFP/Getty Images
    Image captionThe mass die-off may have been caused by an algal bloom

    Much of protesters' anger in the past week has focused o­n a Formosa Plastics official, since dismissed, who said people in Vietnam had to choose between industry or its fishing industry, adding: "You can't have both."

    "Here is Vietnam's territory and there shall never be any case in which a Formosa steel plant has the right to tell the Vietnamese people to choose," protester Cao Vinh Thinh told Reuters in Hanoi.

    Many of those angry at the die-off have been writing o­nline, using the hashtag #toichonca, or "I choose fish".

    Fishermen along the affected coastline are banned from selling their stocks, but seafood industry officials said exports, that bring in $6.6bn (£4.5bn) a year, would not be affected
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