HANOI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Over 90 representatives from the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) will attend an international workshop in Vietnam's central Nha Trang city from May 13 to May 15, focusing their discussions on regional cooperation to preserve the marine environment and ensure sustainable fisheries management and food security in Southeast Asia.
The three-day event, co-chaired by the governments of Vietnam, the United States and Thailand, as approved by the 25th ARF Ministerial Meeting in Singapore last August, will highlight the effect of marine plastic pollution on aquaculture and coastal and regional fisheries, daily newspaper Vietnam News reported on Friday.
Plastic debris is contaminated with chemicals, which can infiltrate into the tissues of marine animals. Toxic concentrations can increase in marine animals, from the bottom of the food web to predators at the top of the food web, such as billfish or tuna, and can be dangerous for humans who eat seafood.
Vietnam earned over 2.4 billion U.S. dollars from exporting seafood, mainly prawns and catfish in the first four months of this year, seeing a year-on-year drop of 1.3 percent, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
