Vietnam’s total export turnover of aquatic products was estimated at over 4.6 billion USD in the first nine months of this year, representing a year-on-year increase of 3 percent.

According to the General Department of Fisheries (GDF) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), total aquatic product output was estimated at 4.5 million tonnes in the period, up 2.7 percent over the same period last year.

Of the total, sea catch output reached 2.1 million tonnes, up 3.3 percent, and worth an estimated 51.3 trillion VND (2.44 billion USD), while aquaculture produced almost 2.4 million tonnes, up 2.1 percent and valued at 80 trillion VND (3.8 billion USD).

In order to maintain the sector’s development in the remaining months of the year, the GDF will promote the popularisation of the Vietnam Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP) standards for the sustainable development of aquaculture, while multiplying the models of cooperative teams among fishermen, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and GDF General Director Vu Van Tam said at a recent meeting in Hanoi.

He added that the sector will also ask localities to keep close watch of the situation in the country’s territorial waters, weather conditions and fluctuation of petrol price, in order to timely inform the Department and the Ministry any difficulties facing fishermen and fish farmers.-VNA