The south-central fishing centre, which is to be built in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, is expected to play a crucial role in strengthening links among regional seafood businesses.

According to the national strategy for fisheries development through to 2020, Vietnam will set up five fishing centres in major areas, including the south-central coastal region – covering Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces.

The centre will cover 46 hectares at Da Bac fishing port in Khanh Hoa’s Cam Ranh city, serving the south-central and Truong Sa (Spartly) fishing grounds.

From now to 2018, the project, worth over 1.5 trillion VND (72 million USD), will encompass infrastructure building, seaport expansion, route upgrades to the centre and construction of a separate harbour for tuna fishing boats and workshops to repair fishing vessels.

The deep-water port at Da Bac is not the biggest and most modern of its kind in Khanh Hoa province, but was chosen to house the fishing centre because of its proximity to international trade ports.

Khanh Hoa province in general has favourable geography and strong capacity to attract human and financial resources, increase the added value of aquatic products, and develop seafood along with national sea and island defence and security, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It is vital to establish such a centre to forge links between provinces towards sustainable fisheries development, experts said, illustrating the planned joint tuna production project conducted by Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and Khanh Hoa provinces.

Under this project, the trio will set up a tuna trade centre in Khanh Hoa province, which is expected to help fishermen sell their products to both domestic and foreign businesses.

The People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province is calling on Japanese investors to expand Da Bac fishing port.

Even when the fishing centre takes shape, the province still wants Japanese firms to invest more in the local markets, cold preservation storage, fuel services, hi-tech shipbuilding factories and seafood sorting and processing facilities, local authorities said.-VNA