Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Phu Yen (VNA) – Dozensof thousands of farmers and fishermen in nine central coastal provinces havebenefited from the Coastal Resources for SustainableDevelopment (CRSD) Projectfunded by the World Bank (WB) in the past years.
The project, which began in 2012, includes fourcomponents: strengthening institutional capability for sustainable fishingmanagement, practising sustainable fish farming, sustainably managing coastal seafoodexploitation and project management.
Until now, the project has supported the establishmentof 50 GAP zones over an area of 11,000 hectares with the participation of nearly8,700 households, 32 areas of farming various species with 2,500 households.
The project has also provided training for 19,708farmers and supported the establishment of 97 co-management teams in eight centralprovinces involving 13,812 fishermen. They manage 803 kilometres of seashore.
Binh Dinh and Phu Yen provinces have approved coastalareas managed by local communities with an area of nearly 83,000 hectares.Besides, 20 fishing ports have been upgraded, with six already completed andput into use.
At a conference held by theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen provinceon March 13 to implement the project’s 2017 plan, LeVan Hien, head of the Management Board of Agricultural Projects under theministry, stressed that the project has contributed to the sustainabledevelopment of the seafood sector in targeted localities.
However, many components of the project have not yet beendone or implemented slowly, leading to the slow disbursement, which is only53.7 percent or nearly 1.145 trillion VND (51.3 million USD).
The remaining 990 billion VND (44.4 million USD) needsto be disbursed as the project will finish in one year.
Hien recommended beneficiary localities focus on updatingVietnam’s fishing sector data, implementing policy studies and upgradinginfrastructure for GAP zones.
Pham Ngoc Sao, Director of the CRSD Project, suggestedthe Directorate of Fisheries soon support the project in building a unitedmanagement mechanism to manage and use fishing ports effectively.-VNA
