Fish gathered for delivery (Photo: VNA)Ha Tinh (VNA) – Authorities of the central province of Ha Tinh issued on July 1 temporary policies supporting coastal residents affected by the recent mass fish deaths, only one day after the incident’s cause was announced.
The beneficiaries are people directly impacted by the environmental incident, comprising salt farmers, maritime workers, and members of the families that live off fishing and related logistics services and own boats with capacity of under 90 CV.
The temporary policies, approved by Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dang Quoc Khanh, cover Ky Anh township and the districts of Ky Anh, Cam Xuyen, Thach Ha, Loc Ha and Nghi Xuan.
Accordingly, the beneficiaries will be assisted with all health insurance premiums if they haven’t bought one. The provincial administration will pay 100 percent of loan interest for poor and near-poor families when they borrow money to change their jobs.
The households working on fishing and fishery logistics services will be supported with 200 million – 600 million VND (over 8,900 – 26,900 USD) when they build a new boat.
Fishermen will also be helped to buy communication devices, ship body insurance and fishing equipment. The new support also covers training expenses for fishing boats’ crewmembers.
The temporary aid is to help the targeted groups stabilise their lives and will be adjusted once the Government’s support policies are issued, according to provincial officials.
The mass fish deaths in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue were found to be the result of flawed waste and wastewater treatment of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company.
This company accepted responsibility for the incident and promised a total compensation of 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) to support local fishermen to switch to other jobs and recover the polluted maritime environment.-VNA
