The Cuu Long River Delta is known not only as a rice producing hotspot but also for having the most abundant store of fish in Vietnam . Consisting of 12 provinces and one city, this area accounts for over 70% of aquatic products in the country, with its natural catching output accounting for 39% and aquaculture and export accounting for 90%.

nbsp;Promoting the existing potential

Since long ago, the Cuu Long River Delta has been known as an area abundant with shrimp and fish, because it has a dense system of rivers and canals and a large fishing ground at sea. Having the fortune of being part ofnbsp; economic sea area covering 360,000km², hundreds of islands in the large fishing grounds of south-east and south-west, and a system of 22 interlacing rivers yielding 800,000ha of fertile alluvia, the Cuu Long River Delta provides a favourable environment for aquaculture and facilitates transport and trade activities.

Due to these advantages, for a long time, aquaculture has been a major business of many localities in the Cuu Long River Delta, such as Tien Giang, Long An, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Ca Mau, Can Tho and Vinh Long, creating an incentive for regional socio-economic development.

The south-eastern and south-western fishing grounds are the two main natural exploitation areas, with a reserve of nearly 3 million tonnes of fish (accounting for 62% of the country’s output). The annual catching capacity in these fishing grounds is 1 million tonnes, including about 700,000 tonnes of bottom layer fish and 300,000 tonnes of surface layer fish. There are also many categories of valuable aquatic products, such as tiger prawns, shrimp, cattlefish and mollusca.

According to the 2008 statistics, the entire Cuu Long River Delta had 25,000 fishing boats, including over 3,500 offshore fishing boats, which concentrated mainly in Kien Giang Province , creating the country’s most powerful team.

The Cuu Long River Delta has many salt-marshes, especially at the river mouths, creating a rare and diverse eco-environment (salty, fresh and brackish water) to develop the rearing of high quality sea- and aquatic-products for export. Particularly, the brackish water area is very suitable for rearing smooth-skin fish, shrimp and mollusca.

In 2009 the output of aquatic products reared in the Cuu Long River Delta was over 1 million tonnes of Tra and Basa fish, and 275,000 tonnes of brackish water fish, excluding natural aquatic products, such as snake-head, bighead carp, shrimp, oyster, lobster, crab, etc.

To fully exploit the potential and strength of the sea- and aquatic-product rearing, since long ago, localities in the Cuu Long River Delta have established and developed a logistical service system to meet the increasing demand on aquaculture.

At present, the Cuu Long River Delta has over 1,280 farms producing breading shrimp that provide over 12 billion breeding shrimp, and about 5,200 facilities producing breeding Tra fish that provide about 2 billion breeding fish a year. In addition, there are nearly 150 factories producing feed and 2,313 facilities trading medicines and chemicals in service of rearing and protecting sea and aquatic-products in the entire region.

In the coming years, the aquatic product sector in the Cuu Long River Delta has a target of increasing the aquaculture area to 830,000ha and the output to nearly 3 million tonnes, reaching an export turnover of 4.47 billion USD and a natural catching output of 900,000 tonnes of fish, shrimp, cattle fish and other mollusca.

To reach this target, the Government and relevant offices have worked out many policies and solutions to bring into full play the existing strengths and potential of the Cuu Long River Delta. Under these policies the localities will maintain the model of rearing shrimp and growing rice alternately or intensive rearing of shrimp in salt-contaminated areas; intensive rearing of smooth-skin fish in fresh water areas; rearing traditional rice field fish, such as tilapia, chinaman fish, common eel, bighead carp, major carp, grass carp, snake-head, eel, frogs and tryonix in the flood plains. The localities will also re-organise production activities in the models of intensive farming and semi-intensive farming at the household level and transferring the application of new technology in all phases, from producing the breeding animals to rearing them on a large scale. Special attention will be paid to the rearing model which is environmentally friendly, causing no pollution and reducing risks to the rearing pools.

Increasing the processing and exporting capacity

Up to 2008 the entire Cuu Long River Delta had 189 processing plants with a total designed capacity of 1.2 million tonnes/year. Of these plants, 50% belong to Ca Mau, Kien Giang, An Giang and Tien Giang Provinces and Can Tho City, which produced the greatest amount of shrimp and Tra fish.

Export turnover of aquatic products of the Cuu Long River Delta is constantly increasing, from 1.2 billion USD in 2003 to 4.25 billion USD in 2009. Now, aquatic products of the Cuu Long River Delta in particular and of Vietnam in general are available in 130 countries, including large and selective markets, such as the EU, ASEAN, China, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the US. The main exports include smooth- skin fish, tuna, shrimp, cattlefish and many other valuable products. It is estimated that the world’s demand on aquatic products from now to 2020 will increase strongly, with the possibility of adding some new markets, such as Russia, Poland and South American countries.

To increase the capacity of Vietnam’s aquatic product sector on its way to integration with other countries, in March 2010, Vietnam Fisheries Society established the International Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability (ICAFIS) to carry out international co-operation programmes, ensure sustainable development, grant certificates for aquatic- and sea-products, and build up brand names under the Global GAP standards to establish a worthy position of Vietnamese aquatic products in the integration period.

According to evaluation by ICAFIS, Vietnam is ranked third in the world in aquatic product output and export (after China and India ), but stands first in development speed.

Dr. Flavio Corsin, ICAFIS Co-Director said: “Aquatic-product diseases and the concern about food safety bring more difficulties to fishery, affecting both quantity and quality of products. Vietnam is among the leading countries in making efforts to seek solutions for these difficulties.”

In April 2010, a seminar on Vietnamese aquatic products was held in Can Tho City, drawing attention from scientists, entrepreneurs and representatives of farmers and fishermen. Addressing the seminar, Luong The Phuong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasised: “The relationship between the farmers and entrepreneurs is very important on the basis that the benefits of both sides are ensured equally and reasonably. In the coming time this relationship must be strengthened to become a decisive factor for the firm and sustainable development of the aquatic product sector.”

To gradually improve the quality of products to meet export requirements, the production facilities are finalizing the organizing of the rearing areas while the businesses specializing in processing and exporting products specify the origins and brand names of products on the packing and implement solutions for sustainable development and environmental protection, such as increasing the supervising system, applying micro-organic and bio-gas technology for organic waste treatment at the fish wharfs and having policies to support the processing businesses to build waste water treatment systems. In addition, many policies on human resource development, capital assistance by the banks and logistical service improvement of the aquatic product sector have been gradually implemented throughout the country.

There is a great potential and clear orientation for the development of the aquatic product sector of the Cuu Long River Delta. Along with the efforts to build up a powerful sea economy, including maritime transport, sea tourism and energy (tide, sea current, wind and sun), the rearing, tapping and processing of aquatic and sea products hold a primary position in building the national economy.

With existing potential and strength, people in the Cuu Long River Delta believe that in the near future aquatic and sea products with Vietnamese brands will account for a considerable market share in the world, bringing a great turnover to the national budget and vigorously changing the life of people in the Cuu Long River Delta, a fertile area with abundant fish and shrimp.

Story: Thinh Phat

Photos: Quang Minh – Kim Son – Minh Quoc – Huu Thanh – Thinh Phat