Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

UTILIZING ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVE INDEX MAP AS A TOOL FOR OIL SPILL RESPONSE:
CASE STUDY OF CAT BA ISLAND, VIETNAM

D. QUANG TRI(1), N. CAO DON(2), C. YI CHING(1) & P. KUMAR MISHRA(3)

(1)
Department of Environmental Engineering, Dayeh University, Changhua, Taiwan
doanquangtrikttv@gmail.com;yiching@mail.dyu.edu.tw
(2)
Department of Water Resources Engineering, Water Resources University, Vietnam
ncaodon@gmail.com
(3)
Department of Wood Science, Meldel University in Brno, CZECH Republic
pawancuremax@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Oil spills contingency planning is a necessity of today world, due to increase in frequency of oil spill. Vietnam has seen
number of incidents of oil spill in its history. Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps are important tools for oil spill
planning and response measures worldwide. In Vietnam still does not have national ESI guidelines, hence NOAA
guidelines were used in preparing the ESI maps. The United States of America, through the NOAA has developed
standardized guidelines for preparing ESI maps. In this study, ESI maps for Cat Ba Island were prepared as per NOAA
guidelines. These maps serve as efficient tool and indispensable part of contingency plan for oil spill and response in
this region. It can also be expanded to various regions of Vietnam.

Keywords: Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI), shoreline habitat, biological resources, human-use features, Cat Ba Island.

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 Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

1. INTRODUCTION
The incidence of oil spills resulting from tanker traffic,
offshore drilling and associated activities will increase in
years to come as the worlds demand for petroleum and
petroleum products continues to rise (Petromar, 1981).
These spills impact coastal environments by damage
and death of biota as well as disrupting the aesthetic
value of beaches (Michel et at., 1978). In addition, large
areas of shallow seas, coral reefs, intertidal sand and
mudflats, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps are also
potentially at risk from oil pollution (IMCO, 1981;
UNEP, 1989).
The Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) of a shoreline
is determined by the physical make up of the shore,
biological sensitivity as well as human-use of the
Figure 1. Study location area
shoreline (Hayes et al., 1992). The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, 1995, 1997) has
been using the Environmental Sensitivity Index 2.2. Shoreline habitat mapping
approach to map coastal regions of the USA, including
large estuaries, lakes and rivers. Spills can put huge stress on marine environment.
Marine organisms, birds, fish, seals, insects and bottom
Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps have been dwellers suffer with short and long term consequences.
developed for the Cat Ba Island shoreline in the north- Shoreline zones are more sensitive to these spills as
east of Vietnam. The ESI maps include information for these areas comprise of sensitive zones like estuaries,
three main components: shoreline habitats; sensitive wet lands, coastal mangrove, freshwater swamps, tidal
biological resources; and human-use resources. The flats, coastal plains, beaches, etc. Survey of Cat Ba
methods of data collection and presentation are topographic scale of 1:50000 was also used to prepare a
summarized in the following sections. base map and for shoreline identification. MapInfo 9.0
was used as a tool to build the map. The method using
2. ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY INDEX in the construction map is the segment of the shoreline
(ESI) MAPS types based on the (NOAA, 2002) guidelines (Fig.2). The
image has been used for the delineation of shoreline
2.1. Study site types such as: rocky head lands, cliffs estuaries, wave-
cut platforms, sand beaches, creeks, mangroves, etc.
Cat Ba is the largest of 336 islands in the Cat Ba
Finally following the NOAA guidelines, the shoreline
Archipelago, and also the second largest limestone
categories mapped has been matched with shoreline
island (200 km2) in the coastal zone of Vietnam (Tran,
class index. The ESI already ranks the environmental
2008). It is located in the north-east of Vietnam in the
sensitivity of the shoreline into 10 levels, where 10 is
northern section of the Tonkin Gulf, and adjacent to Ha
most vulnerable and 1 least vulnerable.
Long Bay (the world natural heritage site). Cat Ba island
has a significant biodiversity value as it is home to a
number of rare and endangered species of plants and
animals, with the worlds rarest primates the Golden-
headed langur (FFI, 2003). It is identified as one of the
areas of highest biodiversity importance in Vietnam and
recognized as a high priority for global conservation
(WB, 2005; Zingerli, 2005; Brooks, 2006).
Cat Ba Island position has coordinated with UTM Zone
48 (699,400719,450; 2,291,7202,310,050) (Fig.1). The
total natural land area of Cat Ba Archipelago Biosphere
Reserve is 26,240 ha. Cat Ba Island is considered the
richest marine biological system because of its diversity
in the North of Vietnam. Therefore, it is considered as
Figure 2. Shoreline classification data
one of Vietnams most favorite tourist destination and
beautiful places (Nguyen et al., 2002).
These concepts have been used in the development of
the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI), which ranks
shoreline environmental as to their relative sensitivity to
oil spills, potential biological injury and ease of cleanup.
These rankings follow a shoreline classification system

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that has been applied nationwide during the preparation
of oil spill sensitivity maps. The list below includes the
shoreline habitats delineated for Cat Ba Island,
presented in order of decreasing sensitivity to spilled oil
(Table 1). The icons of shoreline habitat are showed in
Fig.3. The examples of shoreline types found in Cat Ba
Island are showed in Fig.4.

Figure 3. Shoreline Habitats Icons

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Figure 4. Examples of shoreline types

Table 1. Shoreline sensitivity ranking

2.3. Sensitive biological resources

Biological information presented in this study was
collected and compiled with the assistance of biologists
primarily from the Marine Fisheries Service and Wildlife
Service. Six major categories of biological resources are
found in this study: birds, fish, invertebrates, benthic
marine habitat, terrestrial plants, and terrestrial
mammal. All the biological resources are presented by

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the icon types in Fig.5. The polygon or point color and
pattern are generally the same for all the species in each
major group (e.g., fishes are blue), and match the icon
colors.
Figure 5. Biological Resources Icons
2.3.1.Coral reefs
Coral reefs are mainly distributed at the surrounding
waters in the southeast of Cat Ba Island. The coral reefs
areas are the major fishing grounds for reef fisheries due
to high values of the coral reef fishes and associated reef
species. The coral reefs in Cat Ba Ha Long area are
represented for the fringing reef types and two
additional types of islands connectivity and the
unofficial atoll. Generally, along the limestone islands of
Cat Ba have coral distribution at a depth of 3, 6, 9 and 11
meters. Morphology of the reef is determined mainly by
the morphology of the ground slopes and partly by
carbonate sediments originated from organisms on the
reef. Due to changes of the environmental conditions
under the impact of natural and human, coral reefs are
now greatly reduced in terms of area and the level of
diversity of the groups living together. The percentage
of the live coral coverage occupies less than 40%,
classified as medium and low level by the UNESCO
criteria for assessment of the coral reef health.
2.3.2.Mangrove forest
Most of the mangrove areas distribute in Phu Long
Commune with high relative density. The total area is
775.98 ha of mangrove forest is divided into two types:
mangrove distribution outside the farming area (224.74
ha), mangrove distribution in ponds (551.24 ha).
Because mangrove forests in farming systems are
relatively large so the long-term master plan and
conservation of mangroves will be difficult due to
satisfactory resolution the private-public ownership
interests.
2.3.3.Seagrass
Seagrasses are mainly distributed in Cat Ba Island in the
narrow range like leopard style on tidal marshes (with
the carpet of mangroves) in Gia Luan and in
aquaculture ponds in Phu Long. A small area of
seagrass distributes in the island of Long Chau
(offshore) and Van Boi (Southeast of Cat Ba Island)
where there are coral reefs with live coral cover is
relatively high (Fig.6). There were only two species of
seagrass have been identified in the island of Cat Ba
such as Ruppia Maritima and Halophila beccarii.
However, both species are not included in the Red Data
Book of Vietnam, although the species of Halophila
beccarii is classified at the level of danger threatened
in the IUCN red list of threatened species, 2011.
Figure 6. Distribution map of the seagrass area at Cat Ba Island
2.3.4.Soft bottom ecosystem
These ecosystems include most of the sea bottom (except
the coral reefs) and surrounding waters. They contribute
most of the marine resources. Phytoplanktons are the
keystone species in this habitat type, providing basic
food items for the zoobenthis and fish that are the key
targets of the capture fishery.
2.3.5.Terrestrial animals
Cat Ba National Park is tropical moist forest on
limestone, which harbors a number of endemic and rare
species, foremost of which is the endemic Cat Ba Langur
Trachypithecus poliocephalus poliocephalus (Nadler
and Ha 2000; Furey et al., 2002; Nadler et al., 2002).
These led to the discovery of new species of
Goniurosaurus (Ziegler et al., 2008) and
Sphenomorphus (Nguyen et al., 2011).
Among the 40 reptile species recorded from Cat Ba
Island, two species are listed in the IUCN Red List
(2008), seven species are listed in the Vietnam Red Data
Book (Tran et al., 2007), and five species are protected by
governmental law (Decree No 32/2006/ND-CP) (Table
2).
Table 2. List of threatened reptile species recorded from Cat Ba
Island (Nguyen, 2011)
IUCN VNRB CITES Dec. 32
Scientific name
2008 2007 2008 2006
Physignathus cocincinus VU
Gekko gecko VU
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[Varanus salvator] EN II
[Python molurus] LR/nt CR I IIB
Coelognathus radiatus EN
Ptyas korros EN
Bungarus multicinctus
Naja atra EN II
Cuora mouhotii EN II
Notes: IUCN: IUCN Red List, VNRB: Vietnam Red Data Book:
CR: critically endangered, EN: endangered, VU: vulnerable,
LR/nt: near threatened; CITES: I, II = Appendix I and II; Dec. 32:
Governmental Decree No 32/2006/ND-CP: IB = Group IB
(prohibited exploitation and use for commercial purpose), IIB =
Group IIB (limited exploitation and use for commercial purpose);
[]: Only photographic record or observation
2.4. Human-use features
The features shown on the map are those that would
either be impacted by an oil spill or provide access to the
cleanup operations. All of the features are represented
on the maps by symbols that indicate the type of
features. All the features are represented by icons
indicating the type of human-use resource (Fig.7).
Figure 7. Human-Use Features Icons
2.4.1.National park
Geographically, Cat Ba National Park is located in Cat
Hai district, Hai Phong city. Belonging to Cat Ba Island,
the national park incorporates some of the small islands
and marine water and covers 26,300ha, in which
17,300ha is on the main island and 9,000ha is of the
adjacent inshore waters. The landscape of Cat Ba
National Park is dominated by karst limestone areas on
the main island where there are numerous waterfalls,
caves and grottoes. Most of the rain water flows into
caves and grottoes and follows underground streams to
the sea. There is a type of evergreen tropical rain forest,
but due to terrain conditions, land and water regimes, so
there is some kind of secondary forests: forests on
limestone mountains, mangrove forests along the island,
freshwater marsh forest on the mountain.
2.4.2.Recreational beach
Cat Ba Island has 3 beaches: Cat Co 1, Cat Co 2, and Cat
Co 3. These white sandy beaches are not excessively
large surrounding by Karst rocks and green vegetation.
Besides vegetation, the archipelago has many beautiful
IIB beaches, such as Cat Coi, Cat Dua, Duong Oanh, and
Cat Ong (Fig.8).
IIB
IIB
IIB
Figure 8. Recreational beaches in Cat Ba Island
2.4.3.Harbour/Ferry
Cat Ba Island has some harbours/ferries such as Cat Ba
harbour, Ben Beo harbour, Gia Luan ferry, Ben Binh
ferry, and Dinh Vu ferry (Fig.9). Several ferry terminals
connect Haiphong with the neighboring Cat Hai and Cat
Ba Islands; Ben Binh Ferry terminal is located near the
downtown area, while Dinh Vu Ferry is located on a spit
of land on the coast. Recently, the government of
Vietnam has approved the plan about building an
international port in Lach Huyen about 15 kilometers
from the city central.
2.4.4.Aquaculture and Shore Infrastructure
Aquaculture ponds were constructed on tidal flats,
mostly in the northwest of Cat Ba Island in areas such as
Phu Long, Cai Vieng, and Duong Gian. They were also
built in small embayments in the marine lakes and
embayments surrounding Cat Ba, such as Ang Soi, Ang
Tham, and Tung Gau. Mangrove trees can develop in
some ponds that have good exchange of water with
outside areas, and can occupy up to 34% of the total area
of aquaculture ponds. In other ponds, most mangrove
trees were depleted because of the absence of water
exchange.
The shore infrastructure includes ferries (Phu Long, Gia
Luan), a tourist boat port (Ben Beo) and a fishery
harbour (Cat Ba bay). In addition, provincial roads
connecting Cat Hai to Cat Ba town and the connecting
road from Cat Co 1 beach to Cat Co 2 play important
roles for tourists visiting Cat Ba Island.
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Figure 9. Harbour/Ferry in Cat Ba Island
2.4.5.ID Number:
There are hospitals, schools, post offices; people
committees headquarter, etc. The construction is located
on Cat Ba Island digitized by marked with the serial
number in the legends of human-use features map. The
main construction is scattered along the coastal
stretching from the northwest to the southern of Cat Ba
Island.
protection priorities, potential boom positioning and
deflection angle, and probable oil collection points.
Strategies are evaluated in the field and may include a
test of boom placement, deflection, and containment. An
example of the inlet protection strategy for Lach Huyen
inlet is shown in Fig.10. Tidal inlet protection strategies
are developed and tested before an oil spill. This is
proactive planning rather than reactive oil spill
response. Using of the digital data include the ability to
rapidly modify the protection strategy to reflect spill-
specific conditions, and ready calculation of the length
of boom needed to protect the areas threatened by a
slick, either manually or by overlay with the output
from trajectory analyses. Joint preparation and sharing
of the inlet protection strategies among government and
industry increase the likelihood of successful
deployment because everyone has agreed on the
strategy and planned for its implementation.

3. TIDAL INLET PROTECTION STRATEGIES

The most productive and sensitive coastal resources
such as salt marshes, mangroves, and fish nursery areas
often are concentrated within tidally influenced
estuaries located landward of tidal inlets. Therefore, a
protection strategy that can prevent oil spilled in the
open ocean from passing through the inlets during flood
tides would effectively protect these resources. Most
protection strategies consist of the deployment of
floating booms which deflect the oil to collection areas. Figure 10. The tidal inlet protection strategy for Cat Ba Island
To develop successful inlet protection strategies, local
and national expert analyze the physical processes in the
inlet, probable oil movement, habitat and human-use

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Figure 11. Environmental Sensitivity Index Map of Cat Ba Island

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 transportation actives. national parks in the
4. CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGME
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