Lack of specialty fish breeds for farming

Traditional fish have difficulty finding outlets.
Mr. Phan Hong Linh's family in Hamlet 6, Nam Giang Commune (Nam Dan) has 6 ponds used for intensive commercial fish farming. Mr. Linh said: In the past, pond fish farming brought high economic efficiency because of good consumption market, but in recent years, the consumption market for traditional fish is difficult, selling prices are low, causing the family to no longer focus on investing in farming.

Squid fish are raised in cages by people on Hua Na Hydroelectric Lake. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Linh, now “if you want to be rich, you have to raise... specialty fish” because raising traditional fish is not profitable. Therefore, in the future, he will reserve some pond area to raise specialty fish: Grass carp, snakehead fish, and monosex tilapia.

In Nam Dan district, there are currently 583 hectares of ponds and 315 hectares of fish farming for the third crop. According to the data of the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, most of the freshwater fish farming area of ​​the district is traditional fish farming. Although the output is high, the economic value is not high, because in recent years the market has supplied many new types of food, and fish consumption is difficult.

At the conference summarizing the fisheries work of 2018, representatives of some localities said that traditional fish are facing difficulties in output, many households do not focus on fish farming.

Fish seed production at facilities in the province. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuong Duong district said: The district has many advantages to develop aquaculture. That is, taking advantage of the water surface of hydroelectric reservoirs and rivers. Every year, the State has a policy to support fish fry for people, creating motivation to develop aquaculture in the district, meeting the needs of fresh food for people. However, most of them are traditional fish, so the economic value is low. Currently, many households invest in cage fish farming on reservoirs, really want to raise specialty fish to supply the market, but it is very difficult to buy fish fry.
In recent years, with the support of the State, the agricultural extension system in the province has implemented many models of raising seafood fish: catfish, climbing perch, crispy carp, crispy grass carp, soft-shell turtle, frog, field crab, giant freshwater prawn... bringing high economic efficiency. Since then, many households have continued to invest in raising specialty fish in small ponds and lakes, supplying "difficult" markets such as restaurants, hotels... especially providing fresh, delicious food with high nutrition for wedding parties.

Traditional fish fry are the main products at fish fry production facilities in the province today. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Through some services specializing in serving wedding trays in the province, it is known that in the past, preparing special fish dishes on the wedding tray was very difficult, because it depended on traders from other places, but now there are some families raising crispy grass carp and crispy carp, supplying the market. However, it is still not enough to meet the actual demand, so sometimes it has to be ordered from other provinces.
Aiming to raise specialty animals
In the province, there are currently 32 establishments producing brackish and saltwater fish fry and 8 establishments producing freshwater fish fry. In recent years, units, centers and stations producing aquatic fish fry in general have provided enough fish fry for farmers, contributing to gradually being proactive in fish fry, shortening the farming time, increasing output on the same water surface area, making aquaculture a key production industry providing raw materials for processing and consumption in the market inside and outside the province.

Releasing more than 1,000 kg of fish fry to regenerate aquatic resources. Photo: PV

Aquaculture seed products help local aquaculture to be proactive and stable in quantity and quality of freshwater fish seeds such as tilapia, carp, grass carp, bighead carp... which are popular in ponds and lakes, and some aquaculture seed production units also produce some specialty fish such as climbing fish. In addition, in order to meet the needs of people in diversifying farming objects and increasing economic efficiency per unit area, many valuable farming objects such as: catfish, climbing fish, snakehead fish, giant freshwater prawn... are supplied by service establishments from other localities, enriching the farming objects in small ponds and lakes.
However, according to Mr. Tran Huu Tien - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Although the aquatic seed production industry in the province has met the demand for the quantity of fish, shrimp, and crab seeds for farmers, there are still limitations. That is, the seed production units have not been proactive in producing many varieties of specialty fish seeds. Traditional fish varieties have recently tended to decrease in economic value.

Therefore, units producing and supplying aquatic breeds, especially freshwater fish breeds, need to actively research and produce specialty fish breeds. In addition to climbing fish that have been produced in some units, it is necessary to focus on researching more breeds: catfish, snakehead fish, giant freshwater prawn, loach... to meet the increasing market demand of customers and consumers.

There are a number of fish breeding facilities in the province that have produced climbing fish to supply to farmers. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Convert low-lying and flooded fields with unstable two-crop rice crops and low productivity to fish farming, focusing on the districts of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong. Especially, for the water surface area of ​​irrigation and hydroelectric reservoirs, focus on cage fish farming using advanced technology, focusing on a number of farming species: climbing fish, catfish, black carp, crispy grass carp, crispy common carp./.