January 16, 2006

Vietnam attempts salmon breeding on mountains

A cold-water fish research, breeding, and farming centre in the Lao Cai province in northern mountains of Vietnam, 300 kilometres north of Hanoi, will be set up after the country's Ministry of Fisheries gave its approval recently.

Expected to cost VND8.4 billion (US$528,000) in the Sa Pa commune, the 1.36-hectare centre is likely to produce its first breedstock and fish products by 2007.

The Aquaculture Research Institute has successfully bred two European cold-water fish varieties salmon and sturgeon, under another project funded by Finland last year, said the centre head Le Thanh Luu.

Of the 50,000 salmon eggs imported from Finland and bred in a trial, 70 percent hatched and grew into healthy fish weighing on average 1.5 kilogram at harvest, he added.

Another 110,000 salmon eggs will be imported this year, with the pilot farming programme to extend to other areas such as neighbouring Yen Bai province and Nghe An, Thua Thien-Hue, and Lam Dong provinces in the central region.

Lao Cai, which has large clean streams and temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius all year round, is particularly good for large-scale salmon farming. Salmon, sturgeon and caviar grow and spawn in cool waters that average 10-20 degrees Celsius.