More funds for biosphere reserve project

Written by Nguyen Quoc Thiet Monday, 19 April 2010 02:45

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) will fund 5 million euros (US$6.78 million) for the second phase of a conservation project in Kien Giang Province from 2011-15.

The project aims to conserve and develop key sites of a biosphere reserve in the southwestern province of Kien Giang.

Read more: More funds for biosphere reserve project

Grenade joke costs Vietnam Airlines passenger $500, lifetime ban

Written by Nguyen Quoc Thiet Monday, 19 April 2010 02:40

The Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration imposed a 10 million dong fine ($500) on a passenger flying from HCM City to Phu Quoc Island for joking that he carried a grenade.

A luggage check-point at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport.

According to aviation authorities, while security staff scanned luggage for a HCM City-Phu Quoc flight on April 2, Le Tran Toan kidded that there was a grenade in his bag. Guards then detained the man for a full body search and luggage check, plus filing a report about the incident.

Read more: Grenade joke costs Vietnam Airlines passenger $500, lifetime ban

Phu Quoc starts seaport project

Written by Nguyen Quoc Thiet Monday, 19 April 2010 02:35

Leaders of Kien Giang Province and investors start the Vinh Dam Project. (Photo: SGGP)

The project, which includes a cargo port, industrial zone, traditional trade village, entertainment area, resort, restaurants, and public services, will cover an area of 350 hectares.

Read more: Phu Quoc starts seaport project

Fisherman fights to protect rare mammal

Written by Nguyen Quoc Thiet Tuesday, 13 April 2010 16:02

Underwater tusk: Nguyen Van Khanh shows a pair of dugong tusks which remind him of the days when he used to hunt dugongs

Nguyen Van Khanh carries a fishnet to his ship in preparation for an off-shore fishing expedition. Based on his extensive experience, he can smile at the thought of how much his catch will bring in when his wife takes it to the market tomorrow morning.

Before working as an ordinary fisherman, Khanh, now 46, was known as the "sea monster" on Phu Quoc Island because he and his father, who died several years ago, had caught and slaughtered hundreds of dugongs, a large marine mammal currently at risk of extinction according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The dugong has been hunted for thousands of years for its meat and oil. The dugong's habitat has been reduced and disjointed, and its population is close to extinction. In Viet Nam, the mammals only live in the sea off Kien Giang Province's Phu Quoc Island and Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province's Con Dao Island.

Khanh began joining his father on long-day trips out to sea when he was only eight years old. When he grew up, he became the captain of a ship of dugong hunters.

Aware of his past mistakes, Khanh gave up his hunt for dugongs in recent years. He has also travelled to other areas in the region to persuade fishermen to stop catching dugongs.

Since the dugong's primary food choice is seagrass, which grows abundantly in the water off Phu Quoc, they tend to crowd the region. At first fishermen caught the gentle creatures on accident because they swim slowly and got trapped in fishing nets. But people quickly discovered that they could earn a lot of money selling dugong. Besides its meat, which sells for about the same price as beef, the animal's skin and bones can be used to make medicine.

Female dugong's are pregnant for 13 months and only give birth to one baby with each pregnancy. As a result, mother's have a strong attachment to their young, said an official from WWF.

Read more: Fisherman fights to protect rare mammal