Prawn shrimp died en mass in Vietnam's Mekong Delta

A large volume of prawn shrimp reared on 40,000 hectares died en mass in Mekong Delta provinces, accounting for 7% of total farming area, according to reports Tuesday (Apr 13).

Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Tra Vinh, Bac Lieu and Soc Trang are the hardest hit provinces where shrimp deaths accounted for 20-80% of the total area.

Local authorities said low quality breeds, prolonged drought and saltwater intrusion are the major reasons.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the Mekong Delta provinces planned to earmark 570,000 hectares of water surface to prawn shrimp rearing this year, or 81% of the region's total aquaculture area.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said that seafood processing plants in the Mekong Delta region have suffered from serious material shortage for several months and run at only 20-30% capacity.