Company in Khanh Hoa licensed to export pufferfish

Khanh Hoa (VNA) – A company in Nha Trang city, the central province of Khanh Hoa, has been licensed to fish, purchase, process and export pufferfish.

The provincial People’s Committee gave the permission to Phuoc Tho company to realise the plan.

The move by Khanh Hoa authorities aims to manage and standardise the exploitation, purchase, processing and export of pufferfish in the province and capitalise on pufferfish resources.

They will work to ensure that pufferfish do not fall into the hands of unlicensed individuals or firms during the fishing, preservation and processing processes, and are not sold domestically.

The plan also looks to make use of the internal organs of pufferfish to produce pharmaceutical products.

Under this plan, about 500 – 600 tonnes of pufferfish will be purchased in Khanh Hoa each year to manufacture 200 – 240 tonnes of products worth some 6 billion VND (260,800 USD) for export.

Purchasing sites will be monitored by specialists. Additionally, the company will have to provide training for fishing, logistics and processing workers.

Authorities also requested the toxicity of all product batches be analysed before export and ensure the treatment of pufferfish processing waste does not affect local residents or the environment.

Vietnam has recorded the existence of nearly 40 pufferfish species. Analyses of 35 species show that there are 21 species with poison and 14 without.

Although most pufferfish species contain poison, they are still used as food in some countries, including Japan where the annual volume of consumed pufferfish may reach 10,000 tonnes.

Vietnam banned exploiting, processing and trading pufferfish in 2003 after several deaths were caused by improper processing.-VNA