Seafood sector aims to produce 6.4 mln tonnes this year

Hanoi, June 30 (VNA) – Vietnam’s seafood farming and fishing industry is expecting to produce 6.4 million tonnes in 2015, according to the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. A conference on seafood production in the first six month was held on June 29 in Hanoi by the directorate, revealing that in the first half of the year, seafood production reached 3 million tonnes, up 3.6 percent against the same period last year. Of the 3 million tonnes, the farming sector contributed 1.8 million and the remaining was generated through fishing. Brackish-water shrimps posted a 21 percent growth with 200,000 tonnes. In order to reach the expectations, the sector will need to face competition from other countries, technical barriers, and disease risks, according to the Directorate. Nguyen Van Trung, Head of the Department of Fisheries Capture and Resources Protection under the Directorate, said the implementation of Decree No 67/2014/ND-CP on seafood development needs to be sped up to boost the output of seafood fishing. Government Decree No. 67 provides a full, systematic and synchronous set of basic policies to encourage fishermen to build high-capacity and iron-covered ships capable of fishing offshore. Nguyen Huy Dien, Deputy General Director of the Directorate, said that the agency would organise regional meetings to assign tasks and send working teams to localities to help farmers ensure high seafood quality./.