Fish production hit 2.8 million MT, up 4 percent

Farmed fish production

In the period, superficies for fish farming hit 933 thousand hectares, up 1.4 percent year on year. Pangasius farming area reached 286 thousand hectares, nearly equating to that of the same period of last year; the superficies for shrimp breeding registered 601 thousand hectares, up 1.1 percent, reported General Statistics Office.

Its output amounted to 1.4 million MT, up 3.4 percent year on year (1.09 million MT of finfish,  down 1 percent and 229.5 thousand MT of shrimp, up 26.2 percent, other farmed fish hit 133 thousand MT, up 9.2 percent).

Through June 2014, the black tiger shrimp production hit 106 thousand MT on the area of 495 thousand hectares, down 5.5 percent in volume and down 10 percent in area. Meanwhile, vannamei shrimp farming area and production was 53 thousand hectares and 117 thousand MT, up 111 percent and 105 percent year on year, respectively.

Shrimp farmers are expanding whiteleg shrimp farming instead of black tiger shrimp thanks to its short farming period and high productivity.

High vannamei shrimp output were reported at some provinces i.e. Ben Tre 18.3 thousand MT, Tra Vinh 8.9 thousand MT (up 7.9 thousand MT), Bac Lieu 8.2 thousand MT (up 7.1 thousand MT) and Tien Giang 5.3 thousand MT (up 3.7 thousand MT).

Fish landings

Fish catch in the first 6 months of the year hit 1.4 million MT, up 5.5 percent year on year thanks to favorable weather and abundant resources of pelagic species.  The marine catch was 1.3 million MT, up 5.6 percent.

Tuna landings in the period downed 16 percent year on year to hit 10.4 thousand MT. The decline in tuna catch was due to poor quality of tuna caused by fishing method and its low price.

The tuna catch was recorded in Binh Dinh (5.7 thousand MT, down 12.3 percent), Phu Yen (3.2 thousand MT, down 22.1 percent) and Khanh Hoa (1.5 thousand MT, down 21 percent).