Focus on ecology

Fisheries focus on ecology, hygiene

Basa catfish are readied for processing at the Hung Vuong Seafood Export and Import Co. According to the Ministry of Fisheries, total investment in seafood products is expected to reach over VND17 trillion (US$1.1 billion) by 2010. — VNA/VNS Photo The Anh

HA NOI — The 2006-10 strategy of the Ministry of Fisheries for developing the aquaculture sector has placed emphasis on measures to protect marine ecology and ensure food safety while promoting seafood exports.

Fisheries Minister Ta Quang Ngoc said at a two-day conference that ended yesterday in Ha Noi that his ministry would take immediate steps to supply more raw materials for the export-oriented processing industry.

Under the ministry’s programme, total investment in growing aquacultural products is expected to reach more than VND17 trillion (US$1.1 billion) by 2010. Ngoc also called for investment in breeding, feed production, an application of advanced technology.

Ngoc said his ministry has proposed that the Government increase budget allocation for infrastructure and for research and development, especially in applications of bio-technology.

The ministry programme is aimed at promoting aquaculture on an industrial scale and ensuring standard waste treatment and aquacultural disease prevention.

In the near future, to promote the growth of the aquacultural products sector, the ministry will set up disease supervision systems and procedures for inspecting water supplies in breeding areas in order to increase the ability to quickly detect any disease outbreaks.

Strong development of the aquacultural sector would depend on a clean ecological environment, Ngoc said, so his ministry would put more investment into irrigation and improving the environment.

The ministry would also disseminate a list of banned antibiotics and train farmers how to grow aquacultural products without using them, said Luong Quang Phiet, an expert from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

EU exports promoted

Two Vietnamese-German joint ventures, Viet Nam Bremen GmbH and German Bremen GmbH, will be established in Bremen, Germany, to promote Viet Nam’s seafood in the EU, according the Ministry of Fisheries. The Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) would hold a large stake in each of the two companies, which would act as intermediaries for the supply of Viet Nam seafood to the EU market. According to the ministry, 20 per cent of Viet Nam’s aquacultural products, including fish and shrimp products, were currently exported to the EU. Thanks to product quality and hygiene, the Viet Nam seafood sector has a firm foothold in the market. To ensure the quality of seafood exported to EU, the ministry will establish a laboratory in HCM City for product inspections prior to shipment to the EU.

Food hygiene and safety standards were becoming stricter in export markets, Phiet said.

Areas across the country used for aquaculture have more than doubled over the past six years, to 960,000ha in 2005, an average increase of 13.8 per cent a year. Meanwhile, output has increased more than two-thirds over the same period to 1,437,000 tonnes.

The seafood sector has earned $517.5 million from exports so far this year, an increase of 4.67 per cent over the same period last year, reported the Fisheries Ministry. March alone contributed $185 million to the total turnover.