Vietnam's seafood sector lacks quality breeds

 

 

Despite being a large exporter with an annual turnover of over US$4 billion, Vietnam's seafood sector lacks quality breeds to maintain sustainable production and boost competition on the global market.

 

Ninh Thuan Province has around 1,400 breed production farms that can turn out 12-15 billion breeds per year. However, only 40% of the farms can meet quality standards of seafood processors, said Nguyen Khac Lan, head of the provincial Aquaculture Bureau.

 

The remaining 60% are small, private farms that do not follow any technical processes, Lan said.

 

Vinh Long Province requires about 1.3 billion tra and basa fish breeds per year but local farms provide only 62%. Many enterprises have to buy breeds on the market without origin and quality guarantees, said Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, deputy head of the provincial Aquaculture Bureau.

 

 

There were also concerns that Vietnam had yet to release national quality standards for tra, basa, tiger or white-legged shrimp to help relevant authorities check the products. That has caused seafood breeds quality to come down quickly into the red alert mark, according to Hong.

 

Ninh Thuan is the largest tiger and white-legged shrimp producing province in Vietnam but most breeds are caught in their natural habitats. Vietnam has yet to make any statistics on breeds caught from natural sources, Lan said.

 

Due to the shortage of breeds, many farm owners have used medicines to induce reproduction of breeds to meet the large demand, and the practice cannot be stopped due to a lack of punitive regulations, said Hong.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued regulations on the production and trading of seafood breeds but most localities have ignored them. Shortcomings have also arisen since animal health departments were assigned to inspect breed quality. Aquaculture departments have to ask animal health workers to inspect farms suspected of having substandard breeds, giving farm owners time to sell the breeds before inspectors arrive.