Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha, admitted that the ministry had failed to respond and react well to the mass fish death disaster.
On April 28, Ha and his delegation continued to take samples from the Formosa steel complex at the centre of the scandal. Ha said they took samples from surface water, the seabed and sediment to make comparison with previous samples and discover whether the samples contain heavy metals.
The delegation also inspected the waste treatment system at Vung Ang Thermal Power Plant.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha and
his delegation continued to take samples from the Formosa steel complex
"The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, agencies and scientists are working to find the cause and solution. We hope the public will continue to show faith in us," Ha said. "This is the first huge environmental disaster in Vietnam. Even though we tried to do our best but due to a lack of experience, we were still slow and didn't meet everyone's expectation. As a minister, I'll take the responsibility."
Ha went on to say research were on-going to determine how badly human health would be affected by this disaster. After they receive the results, the ministry will issue guidance on fishing and seafood consumption.
Samples taken from the Formosa steel complex
According to Ha, the marine environment in other areas was within safe standards. Local authorities will keep a close watch during the holiday period.
In the coming times, the ministry will co-operate with scientists and manufacturers to work on waste treatment problem. The authorities should easily be able to constantly monitor waste treatment processes and take samples automatically given widely available technology. "We haven't found anything that directly links the wastewater to the dead fish but it was indirectly involved," Ha said.
Vo Sy Tuan, director of Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography, said according to reports, irregular problems like this only lasted for a short time so it could be difficult to pin down the cause for the massive pollution incident. "We have to find out where it accumulated. According to the Vietnam Environment Administration, this is a nutrient-rich area and can cause huge impact on the environment," he said.
