Vietnam to set up five fisheries centres in next six years

Located in provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria – Vung Tau and Kien Giang and the cities of Da Nang and Hai Phong, each centre is expected to work with major fishing areas to improve the quality and value of fish and other aquatic species. For instance, the fisheries centre in Khanh Hoa Province would work with south-central provinces and Truong Sa (Spratly) islands, news agency VNS reported.

Nguyen Ngoc Oai, deputy head of ministry’s directorate of fisheries, said that priority would be given to the building of the Khanh Hoa fisheries centre next year. The Da Nang fisheries centre, which would work with fishing grounds in the East Sea and the Hoang Sa (Paracel) islands, would be built next, he added.

The remaining fisheries centres would be built between 2016 and 2020.

Each centre would have an administration building, a wholesale market, a parking lot, a refrigerated fish storage area, a fresh fish storage area, a fishing port and other facilities and the ports of fisheries centres would be able to accommodate fishing boats weighing up to 20,000 tonnes and have a storm shelter for fishing boats.

Between 2010 and 2014, about US$40mn was mobilised from various sources, including the state budget, and been used to upgrade 83 fishing ports nationwide. The fishing ports serve about 82,000 fishing boats.

Between 2002 and 2014, the country also has invested in 70 storm shelters for fishing boats. Of those, 42 have been completed, for a total of 31,150 fishing boats.
The country has about 127,000 fishing boats, according to the ministry.

In the first 11 months of the year, about 2.7mn tonnes of fish and other aquatic species were caught, up 5.5 per cent against the same period last year, according to the directorate of fisheries.

Major fishing provinces like Kien Giang, Ben Tre, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan and Binh Dinh have seen an increase in the quantity of fish and other aquatic species caught in 2014.