(vasep.com.vn) In October 24th 2012, in Can Tho city, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in coordination with Vietnam Economic Times held a conference on solutions for sustainable development of seafood production and export.
The conference discussed about development of fisheries sector between 2001 and 2010. At that time, annual growth rate of fisheries production was 9.8 percent in which aquaculture production advanced 17.9 percent. In 2011 alone, total fisheries output reached 5.4 million MT, up 5.2 percent over that of 2010 in which aquaculture output hit 2.9 million MT; seafood export turnover hit US$6.12 billion, US$1 billion higher than that of the previous year.
In the first 9 months of 2012, Vietnam’s seafood exports touched US$4.5 billion. Capture production reported positive results. The number of fishing vessels rose sharply. Fishing ports and landing sites in coastal provinces are being established for developing fisheries logistics and services. Aquaculture sector under model of commodity production reported robust growth.
However, fisheries industry develops unsustainably. Value-added seafood products only make up a tiny portion. There isn’t a close link between fish farms and fish processing plants. Building brand name for seafood products hasn’t much invested.
To overcome these shortcomings and develop fisheries industry sustainably, representatives attending the conference petitioned the government to timely issue incentive policies for fishermen, hold training courses for offshore fishermen. The state was recommended to improve national management system and standards in fisheries industry, national standards for aquaculture.
The representatives also petitioned the government to implement the project on fishing and offshore fishing restructure, reorganize fishing boats, develop fisheries logistics services, transfer advanced technology in fishing, organize large offshore fishing fleets, build modern logistics services infrastructure in fisheries based on conditions of each region or locality (fishing ports, the system of storm shelter anchorage and moorage for vessels, vessel building plants, wholesale fish markets).
The representatives also recommended to strengthen control of aquaculture; setting up a system environmental monitoring, epidemic warnings to minimize losses and protect environment.