Bac Lieu Coastal Marshes and Bird Colony
Location:	9°00'N, 105°25'E to 9°19'N, 106°01'E; along 75 km of coast east and west of Bac Lieu, Minh Hai Province. The bird colony (9°15'N, l05°43'E) is 8 km south of Bac Lieu Town and 3 km from the coast.
Area:	Coastal marshes c.22,500 ha; bird colony 40 ha.
Altitude:	0-2m.
Biogeographical Province:	4.5.1.
Wetland type:	06, 07, 08, 09, 10 & 19.
Description of site:	A 75 km stretch of coastal mudflats with a narrow fringe of Rhizophora mangroves backed by a broad belt of salt pans and aquaculture ponds, along the southeast coast of the Mekong Delta; also a small patch of mangrove forest with a large breeding colony of waterbirds near Bac Lieu Town. In the region of Bac Lieu, the coastal wetlands consist of a zone of mudflats up to 2 km wide at low tide, a fringe of mangroves 100-200m wide, and a large expanse of salt pans two km wide and 15 km in length. Many of the salt pans have been abandoned and are now overgrown with salt marsh vegetation. The small patch of mangrove forest at Vinh Thanh near Bac Lieu Town is a remnant of a once extensive forest formed about 40 to 50 years ago, but severely damaged by toxic chemicals during the war and subsequently cleared for agricultural land and aquaculture ponds. The remaining stand of 18 ha has been protected and managed by the local people since 1960. The forest floods to a maximum depth of one metre during the rainy season and dries out completely during the dry season. The soil has a high sulphate content and is therefore unsuitable for agriculture.
Climatic conditions:	Tropical monsoonal climate with a pronounced dry season from December to April and a rainy season during the southwest monsoon from May to November. The average annual rainfall is 2,360 mm (minimum 1,940 mm, maximum 2,818 mm), the mean annual temperature is 25.5°C (minimum 15.3°C, maximum 30.3°C), and the mean relative humidity is 85.6%.
Principal vegetation:	The coastal mangrove fringe is dominated by species of Rhizophora. The dominant tree species at the bird colony are Lumnitzera racemosa, Hibiscus tiliaceus, Phoenix paludosa and Excoecaria agallocha; other species include Thespesia populnea and Avicennia alba. The undergrowth is sparse and characterized by small shrubs of Lantana camaro, Ardisia spp, Capsicum spp and Acrostichum aureum. Some replanting has taken place, particularly with P. paludosa, a thorny species much favoured by the birds for nesting sites. The surrounding grassland is dominated by Eleocharis spiralis, Paspalum vaginatum, Fimbristylis littoralis, Hygrophila erecta and Pluchea indica. Adjacent areas are under cultivation, especially for rice and coconuts.
Land tenure:	State owned; the bird colony is owned by the People's Committee of Bac Lieu Town and Dong Hai State Farm.
Conservation measures taken:	The local authorities are carrying out a programme of reafforestation with mangrove species along the coastal fringe. The bird colony has been protected unofficially since about 1975. A National Sanctuary of 19 ha was established in 1985, and this has since been increased in size to 40 ha. Some management has been carried out, including replanting with mangrove species, the digging of a moat around the site to prevent poaching, and the construction of a small visitor centre.
Conservation measures proposed:	Proposals for the future management and development of the reserve include excavating permanent ponds and creating other marshy habitats to increase species diversity, planting more trees suitable for nesting birds, building observation towers, producing posters of the colony and its birds for educational purposes, training wardens, undertaking research on the ecology of the breeding birds, and developing tourism in the area. The Brehm Fund in the Federal Republic of Germany is assisting in this programme.
Land use:	Fishing, aquaculture and production of salt in the coastal marshes; cultivation of rice, coconuts and other crops in surrounding areas. The bird colony is managed exclusively for nature conservation.
Possible changes in land use:
Disturbances and threats:	The principal threat at the bird colony is poaching. Wardening of the reserve is not very effective, and some eggs and young birds are taken illegally for food and for sale in local markets. Insecticides are widely used on the adjacent rice fields where many of the birds feed. The major threat in the coastal marshes is the continuing destruction of mangrove forest for salt pans and aquaculture ponds.
Economic and social values:	The bird colony is of great educational and recreational value because of its proximity to the large town of Bac Lieu.
Fauna:	The Bac Lieu mangrove forest is a very important breeding and roosting site for a wide variety of large waterbirds. In 1979, the total breeding population was estimated at 70,000 birds. The population declined somewhat in the early 1980s, but seems to be recovering again under improved protection. The main breeding season is in the rainy season, from June to August, and most birds move out of the area during the dry season. The breeding species are Phalacrocorax carbo, P. fuscicollis, P. niger, Anhinga melanogaster, Ixobrychus cinnamomeus, I. flavicollis, Nycticorax nycticorax, Ardeola speciosa, Bubulcus ibis, Butorides striatus, Egretta garzetta, E. intermedia, E. alba, Ardea purpurea, A. cinerea, A. sumatrana, Mycteria leucocephala, Threskiornis rnelanocephalus and Plegadis falcinellus. The most abundant species are P. niger, N. nycticorax, E. garzetta, E. alba, T. melanocephalus (800-1,000 individuals) and P. falcinellus (1,200-1,500 individuals). A few Milky Storks Mycteria cinerea occasionally visit the colony but no longer breed there. At the height of the dry season in March 1988, about 5,000 birds of nine species were using the colony as a roosting site; these were mostly: P. niger (1,000) N. nycticorax (100) A. speciosa (300) E. garzetta (3,000) E. alba (300)   The coastal mudflats and salt pans are of considerable importance not only as feeding areas for herons and egrets from the bird colony, but also as staging and wintering areas for migratory shorebirds and terns. Migratory waterfowl observed in the salt pans near Bac Lieu in mid-March 1988 included several hundred shorebirds of 12 species, 200 Chlidonias hybrida, 30 Gelochelidon nilotica and 12 Hydroprogne caspia.
Special floral values:	No information.
Research and facilities:	Some preliminary surveys and censuses have been carried out at the bird colony.
References:	Le Dien Duc (1984); Le Dien Duc & Le Dinh Thuy (1987); Phung Trung Ngan (1987); Vo An ha & Nguyen Dinh Dien (1985); Vo Quy (1984); Vo Quy & Le Dien Duc (1984).
Criteria for inclusion:	1b, 2c, 3a.
Source:	Le Dien Duc and Derek A. Scott.