Seminar mulls solutions to boost Vietnam fisheries development

Despite good performances in the past several years, the fisheries sector must overcome many challenges if it is to achieve a sustainable development, many delegates said at a seminar titled “Vietnam’s fisheries: Potential, Development and Integration” in Can Tho City April 25.

Despite good performances in the past several years, the fisheries sector must overcome many challenges if it is to achieve a sustainable development, many delegates said at a seminar titled “Vietnam’s fisheries: Potential, Development and Integration” in Can Tho City April 25.

More than 200 delegates from research institutes, universities, and businesses attended the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MARD) seminar, which was part of the Vietnam Seafood Festival 2010 that opened in the Mekong Delta city April 24.

Big leap

In reviewing the fisheries sector’s performances, MARD Deputy Minister Luong Le Phuong said it has taken a big leap in the last several years, gaining the country a position in the world’s top 10 seafood-exporting countries.

Workers process clam for export at a factory in Vietnam. The MARD says it will tighten control over seafood quality and warns that businesses that commit fraud will be suspended. (Photo: SGGP)
Workers process clam for export at a factory in Vietnam. The MARD says it will tighten control over seafood quality and warns that businesses that commit fraud will be suspended. (Photo: SGGP) 

Last year, despite impacts of the global economic crisis, the country earned US$4.25 billion from seafood exports, tripling the earnings of 2000, Mr. Phuong said. “The amount is expected to increase to $4.5 billion this year, including $1.5 billion worth of catfish.”

Aquaculture output in 2009 was 4.3 million tons compared to just 600,000 tons in 1981, and Vietnamese seafood products have been marketed to 170 countries and territories, he reported. 

With a 6,200 ha area for breeding of tra fish, the country can produce more than 1 million tons of the fish per year and gain an export turnover of about $1.3 billion from the fish, he said.  

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, principal of the Ho Chi Minh City Finance University, said the country now has 15 fishing grounds and 1 million ha of aquaculture, of which 70 percent is in the Mekong Delta that accounts for 90 percent of the nation’s export volume.

One of the labor-intensive industries, the fisheries sector now employs about 4 million workers in such fields as breeding, processing, export services, and shipbuilding.

Problems to resolve

Despite such achievements, Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy chairman of the Can Tho City People’s Committee, called on agencies concerned to seek solutions to take the fisheries sector’s operation to a new level.
 
There remain many weaknesses which must be addressed to boost the sector's development, many delegates said.

At present, off-shore fishing technology and facilities remain modest and obsolete and the application of biotechnologies in aquaculture does not meet expectations, they said.

Aquaculture and seafood processing and export are facing difficulties caused by poor development planning and unclear investment policies, said Luu Phuoc Luong, deputy head of the Southwestern Region Steering Committee.

The poor coordination between scientists, managers, businesses and fisheries breeders was also an impediment to the sector’s development, said the MARD.

Farmers harvest basa fish at a farm in the Mekong Delta. The country expects to earn $4.5 billion from seafood exports this year, including $1.5 billion worth of tra and basa fish (Photo: SGGP)
Farmers harvest basa fish at a farm in the Mekong Delta. The country expects to earn $4.5 billion from seafood exports this year, including $1.5 billion worth of tra and basa fish (Photo: SGGP)

Such coordination must be improved as soon as possible, with focus put on a closer cooperation between fisheries breeders and businesses, Deputy Minister Luong Le Phuong said.
 
The seminar also stressed the need to step up the application of biotechnology in breed production, to build concentrated breeding areas, and to strengthen human resources training for the fishries sector.

Community-based production through cooperatives and breeding associations should be applied to minimize risks and protect the environment, the seminar agreed.

Tightening quality control
 
To promote Vietnamese seafood products’ competitiveness, many delegates said it is imperative to strengthen supervision over product quality.

The MARD said it would work with relevant agencies to tighten control over seafood products before they are exported and suspend any seafood businesses that commit trade fraud or violate quality regulations.

It is unacceptable for businesses to run after illegitimate profit and harm the prestige of the country’s fisheries sector, the ministry said.

The ministry also asked the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers to classify seafood companies using quality criteria to form a basis for giving support to those creating high-quality products.

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