Tuna fished off the coast of Phu Yen province (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) –Vietnam’s fishing sector will employ drastic solutions to dealwith the European Commission (EC)’s warning of illegal, unreported, andunregulated (IUU) fishing during the second half of this year, said an officialof the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
Speakingat a conference held by the MARD’s Directorate of Fisheries in Hanoi on July 4,Tran Dinh Luan, head of the Directorate, said the sector will keep a closewatch on production at sea, focusing on identifying product origin atlocalities.
Inthe field of aquaculture, inspections will centre on food quality and the useof antibiotics, he said.
Effortswill be made to fulfill the target of seafood output at over 3.9 million tonnes,with an export turnover aim to hit nearly 6 million USD over the remaining sixmonths of the year, according to the official.
MARDDeputy Minister Vu Van Tam underlined the need to increase productivity, reduceprices, and control the use of antibiotics in shrimp and basa fish breeding inorder to overcome technical barriers imposed by importers.
Inshrimp farming, the most important task is to apply industrial productionmethods and high technologies.
Meanwhile,in basa fish farming, it is necessary to monitor the quality of young fry andmanage the market, the official said.
TheDirectorate reported that between January and June, the total seafood outputexceeded 3.56 million tonnes, of which sea catches posted more than 1.76million tonnes and aquaculture output was around 1.79 million tonnes. Thesector’s export turnover was estimated at 4.02 billion USD. -VNA
VNA
