The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has submitted to the Prime Minister a plan for reorganizing marine resource exploitation.

This Year of the Snake promises that fishermen operating at sea will benefit from a number of new policies and mechanisms as the Prime Minister approves the Project on Reorganizing Marine Fisheries.

According to the General Department of Fisheries, in 2012, Vietnam's fisheries production reached over 2 million tons, making a significant contribution to the industry's development. However, fishing activities at sea remain spontaneous, scattered, and small-scale, with low levels of modern equipment (only about 3%); post-harvest seafood is mainly preserved using old methods, resulting in losses of up to 30%...

To address this issue, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has submitted to the Prime Minister a plan for reorganizing marine fisheries. Accordingly, the goal by 2020 is to fundamentally organize marine fisheries production into different fishing groups, develop fishing maps and forecast fishing grounds, establish wholesale seafood markets and fisheries logistics service centers, invest in building new logistics service vessels, and gradually modernize fishing vessels, increasing the time fishermen spend at sea.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam stated: “After the Prime Minister's approval, in 2013 and subsequent years, we must first investigate the resources, collecting statistical data on the changing stock of large fish, small pelagic fish, and bottom-dwelling fish. In exploitation, we will focus on improving post-harvest preservation and reducing losses during fishing. In 2013, we will propose several policy mechanisms, especially in the field of marine exploitation. For example, policies on post-harvest preservation, policies on modernizing fishing vessels, policies on credit for fishermen, and some policies to support and protect fishermen to avoid risks at sea.”

According to (VOV) -LC