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Ministry sets 4-year target for fish farming in cages, ponds
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set a target of farming 160,000 tonnes of marine fish species annually by 2015.
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Shrimp exports rise by 35%
Shrimp exports were up 35 per cent in the first seven months to fetch US$1.1 billion, the Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters reported.
They included 115,000 tonnes of frozen shrimp, a 15 per cent rise.
Exports of black tiger shrimp rose 15 per cent in volume term and 30 per cent in value term, while the corresponding numbers for white-leg shrimp were 37 per cent and 72 per cent.
Shrimp remained a key export product and the fastest-growing in the fisheries sector, VASEP said.
Export prices have been rising, it said, adding the average export price was up 15.6 per cent year-on-year at $9.53 a kilogramme.
However, input costs have risen by 30-50 per cent in that period.
Domestic prices of white-leg shrimp have gone up by half and that of black tiger shrimp by around a third.
Meanwhile, shrimp processors in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, where 573,000 hectares of the country's 627,000ha of shrimp farms are situated, are facing a supply shortfall and operating at 40-50 per cent capacity. — VNS | The ministry's programme to develop this sector through 2015 envisages breeding the fish in both small and industrial-sized cages in straits and bays as well as in brackish ponds.
Various species of fish will be farmed, with priority given to high-value species with large export potential like grouper, pomfret, snapper, cobia, and bass.
It will be combined with the farming of other marine species such as bivalve molluscs, sweet snails, and sea vegetables.
In the sea, the cages will not take up more than 10 per cent of the farm area.
The marine farms will have distinct clusters of cages, with each cluster not exceeding one ha and being 500-1,000 metres away from each other.
Farms using small cages will be developed at river mouths in bays in northeastern Quang Ninh, central Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, and southern Kien Giang provinces.
Industrial-scale cages measuring 1,000-1,200 cubic metres and capable of withstanding very strong winds will be installed in large bays in central Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa and Da Nang, and Kien Giang provinces.
A national fisheries breeding centre will be set up in each of the southern, central, and northern regions to supply fish to the farms.
Seven or eight feed plants will be built or upgraded around the country to produce 50 tonnes each daily – or four such plants with a daily capacity of 100 tonnes – to supply feed to the fish farms.
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