Tuyen Quang (VNA) – Northern provinces hold considerableaquaculture potential which remains untapped, according to a conference held inTuyen Quang province on June 16.

The northern region boasts rich naturalresources along with a dense river network and a number of big hydropowerreservoirs like Thac Ba, Son La and Tuyen Quang, which can serve as aquaculturegrounds, according to the Directorate of Fisheries.

The current aquaculture area has just reachedone-third of the potential in the region. It covered more than 200,000 ha in2016, including over 157,000 ha of freshwater species and 47,300 ha ofsaltwater and brackish water species.

It generated more than 800,000 tonnes of farmed productsin 2016.

The directorate said the remaining potentialarea for aquaculture is big, about over 454,000ha. Notably, hundreds ofthousands of hectares of water surface in lakes and hydropower and irrigationreservoirs in mountainous provinces are a favourable condition for fishfarming.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Vu Van Tam asked localities to adjust their aquaculture plans tolocal potential, natural conditions and socio-economic developmentorientations. 

They should enhance the management of the fryquality while facilitating production under cooperative groups, cooperativesand aquaculture clubs to improve efficiency and cut production costs.

Aside from harvesting, localities also need topreserve and recover natural aquatic resources, especially rare species withhigh economic value, he said, adding that it is important to protect theenvironment for aquaculture. 

At the conference, participants discussedsolutions to address obstacles to and expand aquaculture in the northern regionsuch as developing personnel, tightening management, surveying the market,building new farming processes, producing vaccines for indigenous fish species,and issuing support policies.-VNA