A Vietnam Tuna Association will be established soon, Tran Cao Muu, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fisheries Association has said via official media, reports Michael Mackey.
The Association will cooperate with the government to support fishing activities as well as the processing and exporting of tuna. It will also apply modern technologies to increase the quality and quantity of tuna and reduce the production cost so it can compete against regional and global rivals.
Another key part of its work will be building up the Vietnamese brand and promoting sustainable development.
This is particularly important at the moment. The government is preparing to gear up exports especially of agri- and aquacultural products which have slipped in the past year.
Official statistics show that during the first 11 months of this year tuna exports dropped 4.8%. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this was because of the downturn in their principal destinations Japan and the US.
Tuna is now Vietnam’s third largest seafood export item. The country has an estimated reserve of about 45,000 tonnes of tuna in its territorial waters, and is capable of catching about 17,000 tonnes a year. One reason for setting up the association is to manage these stocks better. The industry, whilst concentrated in the central provinces is largely a small scale operation which tends to fish big-eye tuna.
