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. The country produces annually over 6 million MT of fish, in which its landings reached 2.7 million MT and aquaculture reached 3.3 million MT. In 2021, total fisheries production reached 8.7 million MT, including 3.9 million tons from catching and 4.85 million tons from aquaculture.

Available fish sources

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.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the first quarter of 2020, Go Cong Dong district (Tien Giang province) achieved an output from aquaculture and fishing 19,450 MT of aquatic products of all kinds. In particular, 4,950 MT is harvested from aquaculture, the remaining is fished from marine fishing with 14,500 MT.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Since the beginning of the year until now, the price of fuel and the fishing ground has stabilized while the fishery resources have been abundant, so most of the offshore fishing vessels have operated effectively.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Aquaculture Cooperative of Ninh Phu Commune (Ninh Hoa Town, Khanh Hoa), with 10 members, is implementing biosecurity shrimp farming using biofloc, semi biofloc technology on an area of about 10 hectares. It is known that these models have been successfully implemented by Mr. Le Minh Chinh (Ninh Phu commune) - Director of Ninh Phu Aquaculture Cooperative in the past 7 years.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Lately, Quang Nam fishermen's fishing activities have been effective, bringing a stable income for fishermen.

Tuna-fishing boats in the central province of Khanh Hoa are busy with the ongoing season, as a vessel can earn nearly 100 million VND (4,300 USD) per trip, Dan Viet online newspaper reports.

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang plans to increase the area under industrial and semi-industrial shrimp farming models to 3,200ha and annual output to 28,000 tonnes this year, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The shrimp-rice model is highly evaluated for economic efficiency and is considered as a sustainable production model, adapting to climate change and saline intrusion. Therefore, Bac Lieu province is aiming to build and replicate this model to create clean agricultural products to export.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Currently, the area of brackish water aquaculture of Binh Thuan is nearly 900 ha. Of which, Tuy Phong district made up 320 ha, Bac Binh accounts for 38 ha, Ham Thuan Bac and Ham Thuan Nam account for 23 and 145 ha respectively.... The main farming species is whiteleg shrimp with over 850 ha, the rest are other types such as crab, seabass, pomfret, and snail. Average shrimp production in the first 9 months of 2019 reached 10 MT/ha.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, so far this year, the total aquaculture area of the province is estimated at 45,850 hectares, reaching 98.6% of the year plan and up 1% compared to 2018.

(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to report of The General Statistics Office, Vietnam's seafood production in October 2019 was estimated at 733.8 thousand MT, up 5.4% over the same period in 2018; accumulation in 10 months was estimated at 6,698.7 thousand MT, up 5.4%; in which, aquaculture reached 3.5 million MT, capture fisheries touched 3.1 million MT.