Central coast provinces urged to boost aquaculture, tourism
Aquaculture and tourism
are among the strengths of central Vietnam and proper policies will
help these sectors fare well, experts said at a seminar in Phu Yen
Province last week.
Experts spent much time discussing how to
achieve sustainable aquaculture development in the region in the coming
time. They also raised a point that the coastal provinces have many good
seafood products but their fishing and seafood processing capacities
have not matched the region’s huge potential.
Tran Dinh Thien,
director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, pointed out that
investment promotion forums held in recent years had mainly focused on
what the aquaculture sector could offer and how to increase output,
instead of finding markets for it.
“Central Vietnam is known for
such specialties as ocean tuna, lobster, fish sauce and hard-working
locals, and the Government has issued a host of supporting policies for
this region. However, the central coast region has not been able to take
advantage of these to fuel growth,” Thien said.
Thien suggested
that in a long term, the provinces combine strengths of the aquaculture
and tourism sectors to serve as a fresh boost to their economic growth.
“Distinctive
spots and cultural diversities are the advantages for the localities to
attract more tourists and then sell their original seafood products to
these visitors,” he said.
Doan Xuan Hoa, deputy director of the
Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products
and Salt Production, supported the idea to combine tourism and
aquaculture advantages. However, he urged the provinces to manage to
sell more value-added seafood products to visitors, instead of fresh and
semi-processed items as currently.
Hoa noted that annual catches
from the sea reached 2-2.2 million tonnes and were unlikely to move
higher in the coming years due to the limited capacity of the fishing
fleet.
At the seminar, corporate representatives asked for more
supporting policies from leaders of the coastal provinces to facilitate
coordination of the two sectors in promoting products.-VNA