Breeding fish in floating cages in Phu Quoc district in the southern province of Kien Giang Province(Photo: VNA)
Kien Giang (VNS/VNA) — The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang will expand marine aquaculture on anindustrial scale in an aim to improve residents' income and protect theenvironment on islands and coastal areas from now until 2030, local authorities havesaid.
The province plans to set aside zones for marineaquaculture in Phu Quoc, Kien Hai and Kien Luong districts, Ha Tien city, Long Xuyen quadrangle and U Minh Thuong areas, according to its Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment.
Nguyen Van Tam, director of the department, said the provincewould develop marine aquaculture in combination with fishery services andtourism.
The province’s marine aquaculture breeds mostlymarine fish and bivalve mollusks, but its economic efficiency is not high, Tam said.
The province’s marine aquaculture has highpotential but is small scale and has inadequate infrastructure.
Most marine fish breeders are households that usesmall fish to feed marine fish, causing pollution risks and unsustainabledevelopment.
The province lacks factories for producing animalfeed as well as factories for processing harvested marine fish. There is also ashortage of establishments that produce marine fish fries.
As of September, the province has 3,464 floating cages thatbreed various kinds of marine fish species, up 27 per cent against the sameperiod last year.The marine fish species include cobia, grouper,black banded trevally and white pomfret.
Last year, the province bred nearly 21,800ha ofbivalve mollusks with a total output of 66,000 tonnes.
The province estimates that it will be breeding bivalvemollusks on an area of 22,700ha with total output of 78,100 tonnes this year,according to the department.
The province also has about 50 ha of oysterfarming area for harvesting pearls in Phu Quoc district. Private enterprise Ngoc Hien Pearlhas invested in the area that produced about 250,000 pearls last year. Thedistrict’s pearl farming has contributed to tourism.
The province has nearly 200km of coast andfavourable natural conditions for breeding fish in floating cages./.
