On July 10, 2026, Mr. Nguyen Van Huy—Chairman of the Ly Son Special District People’s Committee in Quang Ngai Province—revealed that he, alongside the marine preserve’s management force and specialized scientific units, plunged into the depths of the Lach Chua Hang station to inspect the reef and hunt down invasive debris.
This site represents one of eight critical monitoring outposts within the Ly Son Marine Protected Area. It lies hidden in a strictly guarded zone roughly 500 meters off the northern coast.
According to Chairman Huy, while the management board fights tirelessly to shield the island’s ecosystem, he chose to plunge beneath the waves himself to personally witness and confront the reality of the coral coverage and seabed composition.
The mission deployed the rigorous Reef Check method alongside advanced Phototransect photography to capture detailed visual evidence of the underwater terrain.
The Haunting Threat of “Ghost Nets”
Beneath the surface, the team relentlessly pried suffocating waste from the living coral, meticulously sorting, counting, weighing, and tracing the origins of every piece of debris.
The dive yielded a glimmer of hope: clusters of resilient new coral are fighting back and growing well, proving that Ly Son’s marine heart is still actively recovering. Yet, a terrifying menace lurks in the shadows: plastic pollution.
The haul was heavily dominated by abandoned fishing gear—haunting “ghost nets,” monofilament lines, stray fishing hooks, ropes, and plastic pipes. Experts warn that these spectral traps choke out vital sunlight, snap delicate coral branches, and transform the reef into a graveyard, snaring and killing helpless marine life.
“To lead effectively, one must confront reality firsthand rather than relying solely on written reports,” Chairman Huy declared. “My dive confirmed the reef is fighting to thrive. The true enemy here is the waste, and I will mandate strict countermeasures.”
Amidst the tactical inspection, Chairman Huy personally purges debris from the reef. — Source: Vietnam.vn
A Directive for Survival and Prosperity
Returning to land, the Special District Chairman issued a stern directive: specialized agencies must wage an annual campaign, combining strict surveillance with deep-sea cleanup dives to track the volatile shifts of this endangered marine realm.
The administration will ramp up public awareness campaigns, compelling fishermen, vessel owners, aquaculture operators, and tourism businesses to recognize the high stakes. They must stop treating the ocean as a dumping ground and actively retrieve their own broken gear, ghost nets, and industrial plastics after harvesting.
Furthermore, Ly Son will mobilize community-wide strikes against ocean waste, uniting local residents, dive businesses, volunteers, and enforcement forces to purge the reefs. All recovered threats must be strictly sorted, managed, and transported according to environmental protocols.
Ultimately, these vibrant, rescued coral reefs serve as the vital foundation for the island’s eco-tourism and diving industries, cementing Ly Son’s identity as a pristine, green destination where nature’s survival directly drives sustainable economic prosperity.
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Source: Vietnam Insider