November 13, 2006

 

Provincial project yields bountiful harvest for Vietnam's fish farmers

 

 

Fishermen in Van Don District in the northern province of Quang Ninh in Vietnam are enjoying a new prosperity, thanks to a VND5.5 billion provincial programme (US$ 310,000) that began in 2001 to develop caged fish breeding.

 

The size of fish and shellfish breding in cages in the province's coastal districts has increased from 180 to 3,700

cages. Sixty percent of households now engage in caged fish breeding, according to the district's economic office.

 

Situated in an area of Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don District covers more than 7,000 hectares of salt-marsh tidal flats and 160,000 hectares of water surface. Nearly 2,000 has have been dedicated to aquaculture.

 

The district expects to generate 2,000 tonnes of seafood in 2006 worth US$1.5 million.

 

The district has more than 600 islands and water channels with depths ranging from seven to fifteen metres, which is ideal for aquafarming.

 

Research shows that the high density of various marine algae in these waters provides particularly favourable conditions for breeding shellfish.

 

The district's aquaculture industry has developed vigorously. Fifty households in Ngoc Vung Commune alone produced 150 tonnes of seafood in a 90ha farming area in 2005.

 

Local fisherman Nguyen Van Quy is among the breeders who have struck gold in cage fish breeding.

 

Quy, who went bankrupt in 1989 in grouper breeding, now owns a VND10 billion-worth (US$621,620) of caged fish farms and has a workforce of 24 personnel. Last year, he was able to harvest 20 tonnes of fish worth more than US$160,000.

 

Kieu Anh Chinh from Na San Village in Ban Sen Commune is another success story that was the first in his area to successfully raise tu hai (a variety of mussel).

 

Chinh also began raising oc nhay (snails) in 2000 and enlarged his farm from an initial five hectares of tidal flats. He raises 30,000 tu hai yearly, with 100 cages and 4,000 fingerlings that earn US$1.86 million each year.

 

Six years ago, the island of Ban Sen with more 200 inhabitants has engaged in offshore fishing and barely made ends meet. Now, the island have successfully piloted and implemented the model of aqua-farming.

 

Currently, 34 households raise different kinds of marine life, predominantly tu hai, along with a variety of shellfish spanning a 100-hectare area.

 

Pham Hai Dang of Ban Sen's Party Community said the island is already on its way to aquaculture development.