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Lam Dong eyes cold-water fish
With a climate suitable for raising cold-water fish, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong is expanding the high-value salmon and sturgeon breeding industries.
The province began experimenting with breeding the species in K’long K’lanh village, Lac Duong district in 2006, said Nguyen Viet Thuy, project leader and head of the Quang Hiep Experimental Fish Breeding Station under the Research Institute for Aquaculture 3 (RIA3). The pilot project was funded by the Lam Dong Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
With proper breeding techniques, salmon and sturgeon breeders could make 30-40 percent in profits, said Thuy, adding the margin had prompted local farmers to get in on the cold-water fish bandwagon and provincial authorities to plan to expand the cultivation of the fish to more than 50 ha by 2010.
Kodong Ka Hoa, an ethnic Chil farmer from Tupoh village in Lac Duong district, plans to increase her salmon stock from 3,000 to 5,000 in the next breeding season. Hoa was one of the first farmers involved in the pilot project.
In the first season, Hoa made 199 million VND (12,000 USD) from raising 3,000 salmon in 20 months.
A one year old salmon can reach an average weight of 1,2 kg, with breeders reaping an output of 30 tonnes per ha.
It costs 63,000-67,000 VND (3.80-4.00 USD) per kilogram to raise salmon, but they sell for 150,000 VND (9 USD) a kilo.
Salmon and sturgeon fries for the pilot study were bought from the northern highlands provinces of Lao Cai, which was where the first salmon and sturgeon eggs were hatched in the country in early 2005.
Several businesses in Lam Dong and Ho Chi Minh City are investing in fisheries in K’long K’lanh village, Tuyen Lam and Da Nhim Lakes, according to Lac Duong district authorities.
The HCM City-based Hoang Pho Company spent 5 billion VND (300,000 USD) to breed salmon and sturgeon there.
Company 7-5, a subsidiary of Military Region 7, will also spend 44 billion VND (2.7 million USD) on a fish breeding project there.
Last year, HCM City-based Ha Quang Company successfully hatched sturgeon eggs, and raised the fish in cages in Tuyen Lam Lake in Da Lat.
The company imported the eggs and hatching techniques from Russia .
In March, the RIA3 Experiment Research Station for Aquaculture successfully hatched 90 percent of some 250,000 salmon eggs imported from Finland in Tuyen Lam Lake .
Lam Dong province now harvests about 40 tonnes of salmon and 100 tonnes of sturgeon annually.
Vietnam imports an average of 1,500 tonnes of salmon from Europe annually, with local demand on the rise.
VNA
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