GENERAL INFORMATION

Vietnam, with a coastline of over 3,260 kilometers (km) and more than 3,000 islands and islets scattered offshore, plus up to 2,860 rivers and estuaries, has been geographically endowed with ideal conditions for the thriving fishery sector which currently exists.

Great potential of fishery sector in Vietnam is embedded in water bodies of 1.700.000 ha in which 811.700 ha freshwater, 635.400 ha brackish waters and 125.700 ha coves and 300.000 - 400.000 ha wetland areas might be employed for aquaculture development.

The Mekong River Delta in the south and the Red River Delta in the north have been used for wild catch fishing as well as extensive fish farming.

Shrimp and pangasius mostly farmed in the Mekong River Delta, in which, shrimp farmes located in coastal provinces such as Tra Vinh, Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Ben Tre..

Pangasius farming is developing in many provinces in Mekong River Delta such as Can Tho, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh....

Production in the fishery sector grew at an average rate of 7.05% from 1991 to 2000, and 10% from 2001 to now. Vietnamese fisheries production increased steadily YoY. Aquaculture output tent to sharply rise while capture ouput tend to slow down. In 2023, aquaculture occupied 59%, fishing output occupied 41%. From 2018-2023, ratio of fishing output has decreased from 46% to 41% of total fishery production in Vietnam. In 2023, total aquaculture area was 5.408 million tons, up 3.5%; total fishing output was 3.861 million tons, equal to 2022.

Available fish sources

Dozens of households in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh have begun sea crab breeding this year, with 37 million baby crabs on a total area of 7,330 ha.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In 2020, the country's seafood production has reached 8.4 million tons, a slight increase of 3% compared to 2019, of which aquaculture accounts for 54% with nearly 4.6 million tons. accounting for 46% with over 3.8 million tons. Seafood exports reached 8.4 billion USD, down 1.9% compared to 2019, of which aquaculture (shrimp, pangasius) accounted for 62% with 5.2 billion USD, captured seafood accounted for 38% with 3.2 billion USD.

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang targets an average annual growth rate of 24 per cent for marine aquaculture from now to 2030.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Cà Mau plans to maintain its shrimp farming area at 280,000ha between 2021 and 2025, with an increased output.

The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh is taking various steps to develop climate change-resilient aquaculture, setting its sights on expanding the local aquaculture area by 2,500 ha to reach 40,000 ha by 2030.,

The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh is taking various steps to develop climate change-resilient aquaculture, setting its sights on expanding the local aquaculture area by 2,500 ha to reach 40,000 ha by 2030.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam sets a target achieving seafood export turnover of US$14-16 billion by 2030 and creates jobs for 3.5 million workers. By 2045, fisheries will be a modern commercial economy, a deep seafood processing hub, which belongs to the group of three leading countries in the world.

(vasep.com.vn) Vietnam needs to implement measures to trace the origin of seafood, determined to implement the recommendations of the European Commission to remove the IUU yellow card.

Fishermen and seasonal workers are working hard making a seafood product that Phu Quoc is particularly famous for: dried anchovy.

(vasep.com.vn) In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic spread out all over the world that had a tremendous impact on the world tuna industry in general and the Vietnamese tuna industry in particular. Despite the difficulties, Vietnamese tuna processing and exporting enterprises have still been making efforts to overcome drawbacks.

In order to meet state management and market requirements, the Directorate of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam) is implementing software and piloting of electronic traceability in seafood supply chain.

With the average seafood import demand of 4.1-4.5 billion USD/year, Vietnam seafood has great room to increase exports to the UK market thanks to the push from the UKVFTA Free Trade Agreement.

Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development speaks to Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper about strategies to preserve and develop sustainable aquatic resources.

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang will spend about 80.3 trillion VND (3.45 billion USD) on promoting safe, sustainable and effective agricultural production in the 2021-2025 period, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Fish catches are gradually recovering after the COVID-19 outbreak in central provinces, according to local fishermen.