Vietnam targets 65 percent growth in marine aquaculture industry

Vietnamese officials have announced plans to substantially increase the size of its marine aquaculture sector.

Barramundi are one of the species currently produced in the seas around Vietnam. Photo © Australis

The country’s marine aquaculture sector has been growing by 20 percent every year since 2010 and produced 431,600 tonnes of fish and shellfish, from an area of 258,000 hectares, in 2018.

Despite this rapid growth the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has drafted a marine aquaculture strategy for the period up to 2030.

According to the Vietnam Plus website, the ministry aims to increase annual marine aquaculture production to 710,000 tonnes by 2020 – an increase of 65 percent compared to 2018 levels.

By 2030 it aims to expand to 1.75 million tonnes, from an area covering 300,000 hectares, including 30,000 hectares of offshore production. In terms of value the ministry believes that exports from the sector will be worth US$4 -6 billion.