Recently, there area 20 existing protected areas considered as coastal and marine protected areas. Beside Cat Ba and Con Dao National Parks and Halong Bay World Heritage, the others have not included marine areas and coral reefs. Marine components of former terrestrial reserves such as Cat Ba and Con Dao national parks have only recently been recognized as integral components of these protected areas, and even so must undergo further expansion to cover critical marine habitats. At the present time, only a nominal proportion of Vietnam’s coastal and marine resources are included in the existing protected areas system. Actually, information and management of existing coastal and marine protected areas (show that they are suffering strong impacts from human activities but management effectiveness is low for almost areas.
The project ADB 5712-REG has proposed the national system including 30 coastal and marine protected areas in which there area 3 existing ones of priority for only strengthened management, 8 existing ones of priority for expansion and strengthened management, and new establishment of 9 protected areas with coral reefs involved. With this plan, the area of coral reefs that are protected will increased significantly from 1528 ha to 3118 ha. Ministry of Fisheries has authorized by government to develop national plan of Marine Protected Area which focuses on marine component.