Fisheries sector enjoys great start to year

HCM CITY – Fishermen around the country caught 1.08 million tonnes of fish and other aquatic species in the first four months of the year, 2.7 per cent up year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Marine species accounted for 1.03 million tonnes, up 2.8 per cent and inland catches for 49,000 tonnes, the same as last year.

Favourable weather and the appearance of large quantity of marine fish like scad, Indian mackerel and beltfish have contributed to the increase, the ministry said.

The prices of fish at fishing ports are ruling high.

Indian mackerel is sold at VNĐ40,000 – 50,000 (US$1.8 – 2.2) a kilogramme, cuttlefish at VNĐ100,000 – 200,000 ($4.4 – 8.8) and tuna at VNĐ70,000 – 115,000 ($3.1 - 5).

However, in the central provinces of Phú Yên, Bình Định and Khánh Hòa, the country’s largest tuna fishers, the catch was down 14 per cent to 7,427 tonnes.

Aquaculture

Aquaculturists have harvested 1 million tonnes of various aquatic species, up 6 per cent year-on-year, according to the ministry.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta, the largest producer, accounted for 373,000 tonnes of tra fish, an increase of 8 per cent.

Tra prices are high at VNĐ31,000 – 32,000 ($1.3 – 1.4) because of high demand for exports.

More farmers in the delta have started to farm the fish, resulting in a shortage of fingerlings for breeding.

The region also harvested 46,700 tonnes of black tiger shrimp and 51,500 tonnes of white-legged shrimp, up 1 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.

In the southernmost province of Cà Mau, the country’s largest shrimp producer, farmers have enjoyed a bumper harvest and good prices in the first shrimp crop of the year.

Trần Quang Hiên of Tâm Thành Commune in Cà Mau City said he sold his first shrimp crop for more than VNĐ1 billion ($44,000) and earned a profit of VNĐ700 million ($30,830).

Conditions for breeding shrimp are highly favourable this year with the salt content in the water not being too high and the weather not being too hot compared to last year, local farmers said.

Cà Mau Province has more than 300,000ha of aquaculture ponds, or 27.9 per cent of the country’s total, according to the local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. - Khanh