Re-Assessment of Sargassum Beds at Hon Chong Area, Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam

Abstract

Sargassum beds play an important role in terms of ecology and economic likelihood ("ecosystem services") for coastal communities along the Hon Chong area, in the bay of Nha Trang, Vietnam. It is a matter of concern that the Sargassum beds at Hon Chong, in particular, and Vietnam, in general, have strongly decreased due to anthropogenic perturbations including land reclamation. Our research focused on a reassessment of Sargassum beds including coverage, occupied area, species composition, branch length frequencies and output (production) over the last 30 years. Remotely-obtained (satellite) information and field data processed through GIS software were used during this study. Results show that the area covered by the Sargassum beds was reduced by 49%. In 1980 the coverage of Sargassum was 75% for all the area (30 ha), but now we observed that 75% of the coverage occurred in area of only 2.2 ha. The average length of Sargassum mcclurei and S. serratum branches recorded in 2009 were reduced by 58% and 65%, respectively, compared with data recorded in 1980. Moreover, in 1980 Sargassum crassifolium was very common in this area, however, during this study it was not found.