July 4, 2006

Vietnam encourages fishermen to go into aquaculture

Vietnam aims to halve the number of its onshore fishing ships and boats by 2010 to protect depleting marine resources, according to the country's Fisheries Ministry on Monday.

While it is doing so, the country would encourage Vietnam former fishermen to turn to other industries such as seafood processing, aquaculture fishing logistics.

Vietnam aims to raise its aquaculture acreage to 1.1 million hectares with output of nearly 2.1 million tonnes in 2010.

The ministry said the move is necessary as marine resources have shown signs of depletion.

The presence of onshore fishing disrupts the spawning grounds for many marine creatures, the ministry's Fishing Department said. 80 percent of fishing boats in Vietnam are onshore ships and boats.

Vietnam produced over 3.4 million tonnes of seafood in 2005, up 9.2 percent over 2004, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

More than 1.4 million tonnes of the 3.4 million tonnes of seafood produced came from aquaculture.

Seafood export turnovers are expected to reach US$3.1 billion this year, up from over US$2.7 billion last year, according to the ministry.