Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - The Cham Islands off the coast of Hoi An havesince 2015 limited the number of tourists permitted to 3,000 per day to protectthe vulnerable world biosphere reserve site from being overrun by boats andwaste, but the area is in crisis despite these efforts.

Leaders of the protected area have expressed reluctance to allow in more boats,but officials from neighbouring Da Nang said they will go ahead with a plan toadd a new route to the islands.

Director of the Cham Islands-Hoi An Marine Protected Area (MPA) Centre Tran ThiHong Thuy has advocated against allowing more tourists and boats from theneighbouring city of Da Nang.

In April, Da Nang released a plan to develop eight aquatic tourism services –including a direct boat route from the Han River to the Cham Islands – by 2021.

However, the islands are already overloaded, with a fleet of 152 boatsincluding 145 speed boats travelling between Cua Dai Port in Hoi An and theIslands (a distance of 20km).

“The Cham Islands are not only a tourism attraction, but also a world biospherereserve,” Thuy said. “They need a balance between tourism development andnature conservation.”

“Da Nang and Hoi An have had discussions about the plan to operate more boatsto the Cham Islands,” Thuy said. “However, the islands hold biodiversityconservation and sustainable development as their top priorities rather thanmass tourism.”

The islands, which were recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve on over33,000ha by UNESCO in 2009, hosted 21,000 tourists on the public holidays fromApril 27 to May 1 – an average of 4,200 visitors, far exceeding the dailylimit.

In the first three months of this year, they hosted 54,000 visitors, a 69 percent increase over the same period last year. The increase has stretched thefood and fresh water supply – already a worry for the islands’ 2,400 residents– and put a strain on waste treatment services.

Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tan Hiep commune in the centre ofthe islands, Mai Quoc Bao, said the 80,000cu.m reservoir on the islands couldonly supply enough fresh water for residents, and the rising number of touristsmeant there was not enough water for locals during the high season.

Tourism has also had severe ecological impacts. At a conference on conservationof the islands, Thuy said 66 percent of the area’s sea grass was destroyed from2009 to 2018, leaving just 17ha intact.

The damage was caused by the rapid increase of speed boats and fishing vesselsover the past decade.

“The excessive number of speed boats has caused mass damage over a large areaof sea grass off the islands and also destroyed safe shelter for marine speciesand fish,” Thuy said.

“Despite increasing the entrance fee from 30,000-70,000 VND in 2015 andimposing the daily limit, the Cham Islands are barrelling towards anenvironmental tragedy in the next three or four years,” Bao said.

Vice Chairman of the Hoi An People’s Committee Nguyen Van Son said that in thespirit of maintaining conservation as the top priority, the islands would rejectthe development of large-scale hotel and resort projects.

Tran La Tra, an expert from German development agency GIZ, saidthe Cham Islands offered tourism services at prices that werefar too low.

“The islands have been seen as an ideal site with unique nature and status of aworld biosphere reserve,” he said. “It is a challenge to balance conservationwith tourism revenue.”

“The Cham Islands need more investment in nature conservationwith safe and hospitable tourism services,” Tra said. “The islands should onlyoffer tourism products and services that do not damage marine and forestbiodiversity.”

According to a report from the MPA, the biosphere reserve has 1,500ha oftropical forests and 6,700ha of sea featuring a wide range of marine fauna andflora.

Bui Thi Thu Hien from the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN)said the islands only have strict protection requirements for a core zoneof 1 percent of their total area. Hiền said the protection area should coverat least 30 percent.

Le Xuan Ai, an expert from the Cham Islands MPA, said beaches on the islandshave been reserved for turtle conservation since the island started a hatchingprogramme on Bac Beach in 2017.

Ai said human activities such as fishing and construction have seriouslydamaged the area’s seaweed and coral reefs, which shelter abundant aquaticspecies, and that allowing in more boats would only make the problems worse.-VNS/VNA