Fish cage farming promoted in Kien Giang

A seminar on developing a production chain of fish cage farming at sea was held at Hon Nghe Commune, Kien Luong District in Kien Giang Province on December 9.

The event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, relevant organiszations and local fishermen.

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, Head of the Aquaculture Department under Kien Giang Fisheries Sub-Department, the province has released 5,500 cages in the sea with an output of 5,200 tons of fish in 2021.

However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, fish cage farmers have faced difficulties in transporting seed, feed, veterinary drugs, etc. to the province, which has consequently increased costs.

Meanwhile, the price of marine fish decreased by 30-40% due to limited output and difficult consumption market. Therefore, fishermen have not boldly invested and only operated the farms moderately, so the the number of cages so far has only reached 3,570 with a harvest of 2,653 tons.

However, this is only a temporary difficulty and fish cage farming in the sea has been identified by Kien Giang province as an advantage with great potential for development.

According to the project on sustainable marine aquaculture development in Kien Giang province till 2030, concentrated farming areas are located in Hon Nghe and Son Hai Communes (Kien Luong District), Lai Son, An Son, and Nam Du Communes (Kien Hai District), Tien Hai (Ha Tien City) and Ganh Dau, Tho Chau (Phu Quoc City).

The authorized sector will issue licenses for aquaculture at sea. Fishermen need to register cages with key aquaculture species.

To support fishermen, the Provincial Sub-Department of Livestock - Veterinary Medicine has invested and managed a system of automatic water environment monitoring stations to serve the development of fish cage farming at sea in Hon Nghe Commune (Kien Luong District).

At the same time, training courses on prevention and treatment of diseases among caged fish have been held.

The Provincial Farmers' Association, through the Farmers Support Fund, has supported capital investment for fishermen to implement the model to improve production conditions and increase income.

The Agriculture Extension Center of Kien Giang Province has built a model of farming fish in caged using industrial feed in combination with rough fish in Hon Nghe Commune.

The centre has also organised training courses to improve farming knowledge and techniques while successfully granting VietGAP certification for cobia cage farming model of Minh Hoa Aquaculture Cooperative (Hon Nghe Commune).

In Kien Luong District, one aquaculture cooperative and 16 fish cage farming cooperative groups have been established to support each other in techniques and ensure order in the farming area.

Households raising fish in cages in Hon Nghe Commune suggested that the authorized sector should strengthen the inspection of seed quality before stocking.

They also requested the section soon complete the arrangement of marine farming, assign marine farming areas and issue identification codes for cages, so that fishermen can feel secure and boldly invest in production.

Kien Giang Province has a plan to develop fish cage farming in the sea around islands and archipelagos with the number of 6,000 cages and commercial fish output of 9,300 tons next year.

The local authority also plans to arrange marine aquaculture, including cage-raised fish and molluscs in the direction of concentration, production linkage, and sustainable value chain creation.

Campaigns will be launched to promote the local fishermen’s awareness of of regulations related to marine aquaculture registration under the Fisheries Law 2017 in order to exploit marine resources effectively and sustainably.