Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has given a nod to a project to build a large-scale fisheries centre in the northern port city of Hai Phong to serve fishing activities in the Gulf of Tonkin.
The leader has assigned the municipal People’s Committee to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in planning and building the project in line with the Law on Public Investment.
Hai Phong is one of the four most important fishing grounds nationwide. The city has 3,376 fishing vessels, including 555 off-shore fishing boats, generating jobs for nearly 20,000 labourers. In the first seven months of this year, local fishermen brought ashore nearly 68,000 tonnes of seafood, worth 914 billion VND (40 million USD), contributing to the total earnings of close to 2.3 trillion VND (102 million USD) from the fishery sector.
Possible locations for the fishery centre are Thuy Nguyen, Bach Long Vy Island and Cat Ba Island.
Under a master plan on fisheries development until 2020 with a vision toward 2030, Vietnam will have six large-scale fisheries centres, five of them are associated with key fishing grounds.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said based on urgent needs of fishing grounds and regions, priority will be given to the fisheries centre in central Khanh Hoa province in 2015 that serves fishing grounds in the south central region and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.
The next priorities will be those in central Da Nang city, Hai Phong city, the central province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau and the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.-VNA
