Coldwater fish farming brings richness

The coldwater fish farming is being developed in Lâm Đồng and brings high benefits to famers and companies.

A farmer from Đam Rông district said that cool weather all over the year and the abundant freshwater resources from streams and lakes have enabled them to develop the commercial salmon and sturgeon.

Many households in Rô Men commune of Đam Rông district have make a lot of money from the Nước Mát stream. The farmers living nearby have tried many practices of fish farming. Some invests into cages in the stream, some manages to bring the water from the stream to their lakes for stocking fish fries. HuỳnhNgọc Thu said that he installed 42 composite tanks with 16m3 each on one hectare to make hatchery and farm for thousands of commercial sturgeons. When the water is available, he installed the pipe and filter system to pump clean water into the growing ponds. The water came in and out continuously, helping the fish weigh up well with productive output. “It takes 12-18 months from the stocking to harvest for the fish reach the size 2-2.5kg/pcs”, said Thu.

The price of commercial sturgeon ranges 170-200 thousand dong per kilogram. With capacity of 10-15kg/m3, a profit of 25-30 million dong from a 16m3 tank is in farmers’ reaching hand. Farmer Trần Thanh Toàn of Đam Rông district shared that his family had engaged to fish farming for years with traditional practices. In his acknowledge of success from sturgeon farming, he started to learn and invest.

“It’s about a month away that the first harvest will be done.The fish has weighed up well so far and reached 2kg each. This is the very first crop and if we’re lucky we can cover our Tet Holiday”, said Toàn pleasantly.

Đam Rông has about five companies and nearly 10 households related to sturgeon farming with scale of 1-5 thousand of commercial ones producing more than 300 tons each year. According to the district’s agriculture industry, this practice brings high benefit, thus farmers and organizations are encouraged.

Lâm Đồng has adopted policies and regulations to attract investors to grow the provincial coldwater fish farming. According to the Lâm Đồng’s sub-department of livestock, veterinary and fisheries, the province has 25 units, organizations and individuals related to commercial coldwater fish farming in total 380 hectares funded by 900 billion dong.

Today, the companies are applying technical science into production and forming practical farms. The VietGAP and GlobalGAP sturgeon stream water farms have achieved great success.

Under the estimation made by the Lâm Đồng coldwater fish association, the ideal natural condition and good care have helped produce nearly 1,300 tons of sturgeon in 2019.

Head of the Lâm Đồng’s sub-department of livestock, veterinary and fisheries Phạm  Phi Long said that individuals and companies are rearing coldwater fish in cages, ponds, liner pond or composite pond. Besides, coldwater fish can be farmed in the stream water pond with shelter, which is economically effective. In the future, Lâm Đồng’s agriculture industry plans to develop the coldwater fish farming with high quality and scale with 100 hectares of industrial and hi-tech farms and 50 hectares of rafts in 2020. Nguyễn Đình An, Chairman of Lâm Đồng’s coldwater fish association said that the members continue to reach the sustainable development with good use of water source in accordance with the provincial plan. Coldwater fish farming must be done together with ecology protection and bad impact reduction.