Farmers in Nghe An transform unproductive shrimp ponds into ponds for raising specialty fish.

Bond with your child.whiteleg shrimpFor decades, but in the last three years, saline water, polluted farming environment, and rampant shrimp diseases have caused heavy losses for Mr. Tran Van Hoe's family (Hong Phong hamlet, An Hoa commune, Quynh Luu district). Of their five shrimp ponds, covering an area of ​​1.5 hectares, three have been abandoned, leaving only two to be maintained.

"Leaving ponds idle is wasteful, so after learning and consulting some models in other provinces, I realized that raising fish is a good idea."yellowfin white pomfretThe shrimp farming in my pond was quite effective, so I ordered some fry from Nha Trang to try raising them. The pond covers an area of ​​2,000 square meters.²"I released 4,000 yellowfin seabream. After 6 months of experimental farming, the fish now weigh 400-500g each, and will be ready for sale by Tet (Lunar New Year)," Mr. Hoè shared.

Before Mr. Hoè, Mr. Hoàng Văn Tự, also from the same village, had experimented with raising the first batch of fish and had harvested and sold them to traders. According to calculations, although it was an experimental batch, the fish grew well, were disease-free, the investment costs were not too high, and the profit was quite good.

"Compared to red snapper, sea bass, and grouper, yellowfin sea bream has many outstanding advantages. While other fish species need to reach a weight of over 1 kg to have good quality meat and be ready for sale, yellowfin sea bream only needs to be over 0.3 kg/fish to have guaranteed meat quality for sale on the market and is favored by many people," Mr. Hoè added.

In particular, yellowfin seabream can be raised together with shrimp or intercropped with shrimp in the same pond area. Mr. Ho Van Duy, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Hoa commune (Quynh Luu district), said: "Currently, there are two pioneering households in the commune experimenting with raising them; one household has already harvested and sold them. Besides being easy to raise, having few diseases, and low risks, the market for yellowfin seabream is very good, with traders buying directly from the ponds at high prices."

According to our research, pompano fish can be raised together with whiteleg shrimp or in a mixed farming system. Based on the pilot model of two households, the local authorities will evaluate the effectiveness to expand the farming of pompano fish as a replacement for less efficient shrimp ponds.”

In Quynh Di ward (Hoang Mai town), Mr. Nguyen Hong Cuong is a pioneer in bringing his children to live with him.grouperThey were then used for experimental farming in ponds lined with tarpaulin that had previously been used for shrimp farming.

Mr. Cuong said that in August 2023, he imported 30,000 grouper fish from Indonesia for experimental farming in shrimp ponds. Seeing that the fish adapted well to the water environment and climate, and grew well, he imported 1 million grouper fingerlings for further breeding. To date, after more than three months of experimental farming, it has been shown that grouper is a suitable species to replace whiteleg shrimp.

"Farmed fish are less susceptible to disease, have a low mortality rate, and, importantly, their main feed is trash fish, which saves on farming costs. Meanwhile, grouper meat has higher nutritional quality and a higher selling price (averaging 220,000 VND/kg, sometimes reaching 270,000 - 280,000 VND/kg). Furthermore, the market demand is wide."

Currently, grouper is exported to the Chinese market and sold to restaurants domestically. With the current price of grouper at 265,000 VND/kg for grade 1, farmers are making a good profit. Therefore, this is an efficient aquaculture species, gradually replacing less efficient shrimp ponds. Currently, 1 million grouper fingerlings have been ordered by farmers in the North Central provinces,” said Mr. Nguyen Hong Cuong.

Currently, in shrimp farming areas of Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, and Hoang Mai town, a considerable amount of land is left fallow. This is partly due to the unreliable supply of shrimp fry, and partly because of climate change, resulting in erratic sunshine and rain, leaving shrimp farmers constantly facing the choice of "gambling with the weather."

In particular, the environment is increasingly unsuitable for normal shrimp farming, while high-tech shrimp farming has not yet been widely implemented due to high investment costs.

Therefore, to avoid wasting pond space, shrimp farmers need to boldly switch to new species. Initially, grouper and yellowfin snapper are two promising species to cultivate.

However, people need to pay attention to choosing high-quality, disease-free breeding stock; mastering breeding techniques and thoroughly researching the market. Massive investment should be avoided; localities should conduct trials and evaluations before expanding to a large scale.