Smoke rises from oyster lime ovens over Lang Co Bay in Thua Thien-Hue city

The scenic Lang Co Bay is fast losing its beauty from pollution caused by waste from oyster lime ovens.

Lang Co Town, Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue Province, is home to nearly two million tons of oysters. Despite district officials enacting a ban on oyster fishing in 2004, local manufacturers have turned the district into an oyster lime industrial zone.

Dozens of boats are anchored around the bay for daily fishing, while oyster lime processing ovens burn constantly in the background.

Hung, a local resident, said the limekilns operate overnight. “I can drag out a clot of lime from my nostrils when I wake up. The children just cough throughout the night.”

According to the residents, district authorities have failed to offer them new jobs after a 2004 ban on oyster fishing took effect, so they continue with their old activity.

Those with personal fishing boats can make VND400,000-500,000 (US$22-28) a day, while oyster transporters can earn around VND100,000.

A village head from the district, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had seized many machines used to make the lime, but asked: “How can residents survive if we ban them [from producing oyster lime] and not offer other opportunities to make a proper living,” Phap Luat newspaper quoted him as saying.

Source: Agencies