From 9th to 12th Sep., scattered trash survey was conducted in MoO mudflat, south of Vietnam supported by “Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund”. This survey was conducted as the part of an environmental project, “Conservation and cleaning up of MoO mudflat, Mekong river-mouth”, which is operated by the cooperation & collaboration of Soc Trang province, Nagasaki University, Can Tho University, and Nagasaki Vietnam Friendship Association.

During the survey, 6 members of the Nagasaki Kaientai* (Volunteer group), Associate Prof. Utsunomiya (Faculty of Economics), Assistant Prof. Fujino (Center for International Collaborative Research) worked with volunteers from Can Tho University and volunteers from the Soc Trang province.

By the Vietnam-Japan joint 30 members, 76 survey points were covered, then discussion on scattered trash problem was held between Nagasaki Kaientai members and student of Can Tho University. Both university students noticed the importance of continuous activity, and committed the participation to the future activities. Although the trash problem is a complicated issue, the challenge based on the friendship of young generations of both Vietnam and Japan may well contribute the conservation of the precious ecosystem exiting in MoO mudflat.

The preliminary results of the survey will be presented in the “Ocean Education Forum” on 22th Oct. by one of the Nagasaki Kaientai member (Michiru Hamada, Faculty of Environmental Science). Then the project expects to conduct biological survey in Dec., and workshop in next Jan. to Mar. with the cooperation of Soc Trang province.

* Nagasaki Kaientai is a volunteer group of Nagasaki University, which collects scattered trash along the coastline of Nagasaki.

TV broadcast in Vietnam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toNDHtwHrWg&feature=youtu.be&t=6m3s 

Member of Nagasaki University and
Can Tho University

Collecting trash in the mudflat and surveying types and distributional areas of trash

Samples of collected trash