Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - A large area of sea grass on the ChamIslands, off the coast of Hoi An, have been damaged due to the rapid increasein speed boats over the past several decades—another sign that mass tourism andunsustainable development threaten the rich ecosystem on the islands.

Speaking at a recent conference on the sustainable development and conservationof the Cham Islands, Director of the Cham Islands-Hoi An MarineProtected Area (MPA) Centre Tran Thi Hong Thuy said 66 percent of the sea grassarea was destroyed from 2009 to 2018 and only 17ha has been conserved in thearea. Meanwhile, 135 speed boats and more than 600 fishing boats had startedtraversing the waters nearby.

“The excessive speed boats have caused mass damage over a largearea of sea-grass off the island and also destroyed safe shelter for marinespecies and fish. Meanwhile, the number of tourists visiting the islands hasincreased by a factor of 20 since 2009,” Thuy said.

She said the Cham Islands hosted 20,000 tourists,of which 10 percent were foreigners in 2009. The favourite destination receivedmore than 400,000 visitors in 2017.

Thuy said over-fishing as a result of the mass tourism boomalso caused serious degradation to the marine environment and a reduction inbiodiversity.

“More than 100 restaurants, shops, seafood agents andhome-stay services have been built on the islands. Mass buildings and concreteroads had cleared 102ha of special use forest (out of a total 1,500ha forestarea) over the past 10 years,” she reported.

A report from the MPA warned that fresh water resources wouldbe depleted soon due to salinisation and over-exploitation from households inthe dry season. Meanwhile, an 85,000cu.m reservoir could only be reserved forlocal residents’ use.

Despite the economic benefits of tourism services, which hasbrought income per capita to 37 million VND (1,600 USD), islanders only tookhome about a third of tourism revenues, while most profits went into thepockets of businesses from the mainland.

Tran Le Tra, an expert from the Germandevelopment agency GIZ said the Cham Islands have offered tourismservices for too low price– far lower than it could ask for, given the uniquevalue of its nature and status as a world biosphere reserve site.

“The islands have been seen as an ideal site for peopleescaping the concrete jungle in mainland cities, and tourism has changed theeconomic structure of the islands as 70 percent of the population has turnedfrom fishing to tourism services,” Tra said.

“With 35 homestays, the islands only earned 728 million VND (32,000USD) from providing services for 12,000 tourists in 2017, meaning that eachtourist spent only 60,000 VND for their stay on average,” he explained. Thatfigure is extraordinarily low compared to the amount tourists spend to stay atother national reserve areas, he added.

Tra said it seems that the Cham Islands havebeen trying to lure many tourists rather than offering luxury services. Masstourism creates a big challenge for the world biosphere reserve site in tryingto balance nature conservation with tourism revenue.

He suggested that the MPA management board should beempowered to deal with environmentally damaging businesses.

“The Cham Islands do not need luxury resortsor hotels, but it needs more investment in nature conservation with safe andhospitable tourism services. The islands should only offer tourism products andservices that do not damage marine and forest biodiversity,” he said.

Director of Quang Nam province’s Department of Science andTechnology Pham Viet Tich said the islands should triple entrancefees from 80,000 VND (3.5 USD) to eliminate mass tourism.

He said it needs tolimit the number of tourists visiting the islands each day to ease the burdenof supplying fresh water and seafood for numerous of tourists.

Bui Thi Thu Hien from the International Union for NatureConservation (IUCN) said that the Cham Islands has a small corezone for strict protection that comprises only 1 percent of its total area,while most of the world’s other biosphere reserve strictly protect at least 30per cent of their total area. She said illegal fishing was seen in the corezone of the Cham Islands, and fewer actions have been taken tocontrol illegal fishing in the no-fishing area.

The Cham Islands-Hoi An World Biosphere Reserve on over33,000ha was recognised by UNESCO in 2009. It has 1,500ha of tropical forestsand 6,700ha of sea featuring a wide range of marine fauna and flora.

The islands are the only location in Vietnam promoting thenon-use of plastic bags and the “3Rs” (reduce, reuse and recycle) programmessince 2011.

The islands, which include eight islets with 3,000inhabitants, are seen as the top site in the central province of Quang Nam afterthe UNESCO-recognised world heritage of Hoi An ancient town and My SonSanctuary.-VNS/VNA