December 17, 2003

 

 

Vietnam's Fishing Industry Less Than 20% Tapped

 

Vietnam Fishery Association's (VFA) chairman Vu Dinh Lieu believes Vietnam's fishing industry still has great room for development. Currently, less than 20% of potential is tapped, he said in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

 

The industry's cultivated output is estimated at 950,000 to one million tons and the catch at 1.3 to 1.4 million tons, all being small figures given the favorable natural conditions of the country, Lieu told reporters at a press conference.

 

Such figures are small, and there is much room for improvement, he told the briefing organized to introduce the upcoming exhibition "Vietnam's Fishing Industry: Cooperation for Development and Integration", or Vinafish.

 

Vietnam has 3,600 kilometers of coastline with many lagoons and bays suitable for fish cultivation. However, cultivated products have so far been limited to tiger shrimp in brackish water, and lobster in the waters off the central region and bong mu (white bass) and gio fish in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Quang Ninh.

 

The country also has advantages in freshwater fisheries with a large network of rivers and lakes but the cultivated types are also confined to basa and tra fish, tilapia and crawfish, and the combined quantity is still small.

 

Furthermore, inshore fishing still far outweighs offshore fishing, diminishing the natural resource in shallow waters, Lieu said.

 

"The exhibition is aimed to address the dilemma and foster the industry's development in terms of breeding, catching, processing and exporting."

 

Vinafish will be held at Tao Dan Park from April 2-6 2004 by VFA in cooperation with the Ministry of Fisheries and the HCMC government. The first fair of the type was organized in Can Tho Province in 2001.

 

The fair is expected to help promote cooperation among farmers, catchers, processors and suppliers of breeders, feed, technologies and services.

 

The association has aimed to turn the fair into a biennial event following the success of the annual seafood export fair Vietfish organized by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep).