KIÊN GIANG — The southern province of Kiên Giang will restructure aquaculture and fishing to protect the environment and ensure they develop sustainably.Lê Hữu Toàn, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said large, concentrated aquaculture areas using advanced and environment-friendly breeding techniques would be developed.The province would strengthen protection of aquatic species near shore and the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) activities, he said.It has large fishing grounds of around 63,000sq.km, 8,212 fishing boats, including 3,700 with a length of at least 15m for off-shore fishing.It aims to reduce the number of near-shore fishing boats to protect aquatic resources and fishermen switch to other suitable jobs.It has released seeds of aquatic species into rivers and lakes, and banned the catch of some of them during their reproduction season in recent years.Kiên Giang, one of the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta’s main fisheries provinces, aims to produce 800,000 tonnes from aquaculture and fishing this year, including 435,000 tonnes from the latter.The output in the first two months of the year was 95,670 tonnes, or 12 per cent of the year’s target, worth VNĐ3.6 trillion (US$144 million), up 3.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the department.The province has 148,000ha of aquaculture farms that raise shrimp, fishes and bivalve mollusks.The aquaculture output alone in the first two months was 27,200 tonnes, an increase of 2 per cent. Shrimp accounted for 10,250 tonnes.The province breeds shrimp under various models such as traditional and industrial farming and shrimp-rice farming.Caged aquacultureKiên Giang is increasing the breeding of marine fish and other aquatic species in floating cages to capitalise on its great potential for marine aquaculture with its coastline of 200km, more than 100 river mouths and 143 islands.It aims to develop marine aquaculture on an industrial scale while also protecting the environment and combining it with tourism.The province has the largest number of floating cages in the delta: 3,837.The prices of marine fish have been high this year, giving farmers the confidence to increase investment in marine aquaculture. (ICE HO CHI MINH CITY)

Fonte notizia: Vietnam News