Ban on unsafe seafood processing in 4 Central provinces

Dead seafood washed ashore or caught within 20 nautical miles of shore that test unsafe is prohibited for use as human food or animal feed.

Faced with the phenomenon of some people collecting dead fish to sell to traders, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam has just issued an official dispatch guiding measures to respond to unusual deaths of seafood in the North Central provinces.

Ban on processing dead seafood washed ashore

The document requires localities to absolutely not process dead seafood washed ashore or seafood caught in the waters 20 nautical miles or more in the four provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue that have unsafe inspection results for human consumption or animal feed.

Fish that die of unknown causes cannot be processed into food for humans and animals. Photo: Tran Tinh

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, localities must collect and transport waste to a prepared landfill. The landfill must be far away from and not pollute seawater, freshwater sources, residential areas, urban areas, schools, beaches, tourist areas, etc. When burying, people need to add chemicals such as lime powder, specialized chemicals permitted for use in aquaculture, and not pollute the environment.

People whose exploited seafood is determined by authorities to be unsafe are also forced to destroy it and will receive support according to regulations.

Do not bring seawater directly into the farming area.

While waiting to determine the cause of the unusual deaths of seafood, the Ministry of Agriculture has asked the Departments of Agriculture to provide guidance to seafood farming facilities. Specifically, in cage fish farming areas, people must regularly monitor fish and daily monitor and check environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen, pH, H2S, NH3, etc. to promptly detect unusual phenomena and take appropriate measures.

People should move fish cages to deeper water areas, with the bottom of the cage at least one meter from the ground; thin out dense cages, maintain appropriate density according to regulations (no more than 10 kg/m3); and increase the distance between cages.

Farmers should also limit the use of fresh food to minimize environmental pollution, replace it with industrial food with high protein content, and add vitamin C to increase the fish's resistance.

Breeding and commercial farming facilities in coastal ponds and facilities that have not yet stocked fish should focus on treating and renovating ponds and preparing fish; regularly monitor and check environmental factors in ponds; and limit the supply of additional water.

In cases where it is necessary to take seawater into the farming area, people should only take surface water at peak tide, not directly supply seawater to ponds or tanks, but must take seawater through storage ponds, settling ponds and carry out water treatment processes before supplying to ponds or tanks.

Illustration

Daily seafood monitoring and testing

The Ministry of Agriculture requires localities to confirm seafood exploited in waters outside the area 20 nautical miles from the shore of the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

Accordingly, immediately after the ship enters the port, the ship owner is responsible for notifying the local Fisheries Department to send officers to supervise the loading of fish and confirm the volume of fish by species. The ship owner or captain must provide the supervising officer with the following documents: a travel book certified by the border agency to match the ship's operations; a fishing logbook, a purchasing and transport logbook. The supervising officer will issue a food safety certificate in two copies, one to be sent to the ship owner and one to be kept at the Fisheries Department.

For purchasing and transporting vessels departing before the date of issuance of this document, the local Fisheries Sub-Department does not require the vessel owner to present the Purchasing and Transport Logbook.

The Ministry also requires localities to take samples to monitor seafood exploited in the four provinces to see if there are heavy metals such as mercury and lead in them. For seafood in waters beyond 20 nautical miles from shore, localities will take samples at fishing ports when they are unloaded. If samples are found to be substandard, the Department of Forestry, Agricultural and Fishery Product Quality Management will immediately report to the Department and the Ministry of Agriculture.

For seafood exploited within 20 nautical miles from shore, sampling is carried out daily. If the sample does not meet the requirements, the authorities will destroy it, support fishermen according to regulations and recommend not to continue exploiting.

According to VnE