(vasep.com.vn) From 2012, Kien Giang blue swimming crab fishery improvement program will start assessing stock and fishing capacity of blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) in Kien Giang waters.
According to World Widelife Fund (WWF) Vietnam, the program started three years ago. After collecting data and assessing the situation, in 2012, the program officially focus on investigating blue swimming crab resource and the program is expected to last by 2016.
WWF America and WWF Vietnam will appoint technical experts, officials of the program. Four enterprises in VASEP’s Crab Council plan to support money for the project. According to Research Institute for Marine Fisheries, although blue swimming crab stock in Kien Giang waters is plentiful, it is becoming exhausted due to excessive fishing. The annual output of blue swimming crab reached over 11,000 MT, mainly sized 10 - 15 pieces per kilogram, accounting for nearly 4 percent of total fish catch of the whole province. Blue swimming crab occupied 90 percent of caught swimming crab production.
The province owns up to 3,800 fishing vessels. If blue swimming crab fishery activities are not controlled closely, the stock will be deteriorated and fishermen that depend on blue swimming crab fisheries will be badly affected in the long term. Therefore, it is necessary for the province to focus on evaluating stock and blue swimming crab fisheries.
After the project finishes, the stock and blue swimming crab fisheries will be evaluated, biological characteristics of the species are researched, and reference points in stock will be determined to evaluate stock and control swimming crab fisheries in Kien Giang.
The target of the program is to move blue swimming crab fishery further along the road towards sustainability and the certification of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), increase the volume of exported blue swimming crab and raise local people’s income.