Conservation significant to fisheries resources development: official

Hanoi (VNA) – Conservation is key to sustainable development of fisheries resources, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Phung Duc Tien has said.

So far, the target of making detailed planning for 16 marine reserves in 2020 has been completed, but only 12 of them have been formed and operated, or 75 percent, the deputy minister said at a recent conference in Hanoi to review the pogramme to protect and develop fisheries resources and the planning of Vietnam marine reserves to 2020.

He noted that a number of effective operating marine reserves such as Cu Lao Cham in the central province of Quang Nam have produced good ecological effectiveness as well as tourism values.

He held that in order to recover and develop fisheries resources in a sustainable manner, it is necessary to reduce total annual seafood catch from 3.9 million tonnes at present to 2.8 million tonnes.

The fisheries sector should restructure exploitation activities with specific regulations on catch quota, numbers of fishing vessels and fishing forms.

Le Tran Nguyen Hung, deputy head of the Department of Aquatic Resources Conservation and Development under the Directorate of Fisheries said that as of September 2020, the total area of water and islands designated as marine reserves reached 213,400 hectares, below the set target of 270,271 ha.

He pointed to problems such as the shortage of human resources and equipment serving the restoration and preservation of sea, while violations of regulations on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources are increasing.

In the 2012-2019 period, more than 43,700 violations in the field were detected with fire of over 134 billion VND.

He added that forms of fishing that badly affect marine resources have reduced, and the fleet of large capacity fishing vessels has expanded thanks to the State’s supportive policy./.