Digital transformation of the seafood industry: Breakthrough in the management process

Investing in upgrading boats and equipping modern fishing equipment has helped fishermen in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province be proactive in seafood exploitation activities, bringing high efficiency.

Some offshore fishing vessels also use advanced fishing support equipment such as GPS satellite positioning systems, fish finders, photography devices, walkie-talkies, lights... Many ship owners also actively apply digital transformation in the fishing process to improve efficiency.

Since the beginning of this year, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, the owner of a fishing boat in Ward 2, City. Vung Tau has implemented electronic logging for its 4 offshore vessels. Thereby helping him update and manage fishing at sea conveniently, quickly and accurately.

“Previous work recording seafood exploitation logs when the ship was offshore, especially in strong wind and wave conditions, was difficult and inconvenient. Even when captains are busy fishing, they will forget to take notes. When they have free time, they will open the notebook to write down the exact time and place of casting nets and collecting nets, or the bad writing is difficult to 'translate', and even There is also a lack of information about caught seafood species. However, up to now, when applying electronic logging, all of those limitations have been resolved. The information is more transparent, quicker, and more accurate," Mr. Ngoc confided.

According to Mr. Ngoc, the application of electronic logging will be the basis for him and other fishermen to provide newly caught products to the Vung Tau seafood market with clear traceability, and simultaneously move towards online transactions and electronic trading floors in the province and the country, helping to increase revenue for fishing vessels.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, modernizing the fishing fleet, improving the infrastructure of fishing ports, and strengthening measures to prevent and combat illegal fishing is not only aimed at removing the "IUU yellow card", but more importantly, helps the fishing industry comply with the new regulations of the Fisheries Law. Therefore, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province will further strengthen the application of digital transformation in State management of fishing, exploitation and processing of aquatic products, towards sustainable fisheries development.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau Seafood Import-Export Processing Joint Stock Company (Baseafood) has applied digital transformation early on since the Covid-19 epidemic broke out.

Even though meeting directly with the production and business departments is impossible, the company can still provide data, image information, certifications, and certificates on ISO, environment, and production processes that meet international standards for all domestic and international partners. At the same time, conduct online export transactions and sign e-commerce contracts. Thanks to that, the company reduced costs and guaranteed revenue in the past two years, creating jobs and stable profits for workers.

Mr. Tran Van Dung, General Director of Baseafood, said: "In the past, we often organized trade promotions and negotiated orders directly with partners, which was costly, but now most can be done through e-commerce transactions, at low cost. In export activities, we increase participation in commercial exchanges and electronic transactions domestically and internationally."

According to Mr. Dung, over the past few years, Baseafood has created a routine of internal internal reporting and online meetings with authorities and foreign partners. The company has applied digital transformation in all production, processing, and export activities. Up to now, Baseafood's data has been updated and stored via cloud computing.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Vinh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of BR-VT province, said: Currently, the province is focusing on converting exploitative occupations that are harmful to aquatic resources, focus on anti-IUU fishing, encouraging and creating favorable conditions for seafood processing enterprises to invest in applying digital transformation and innovating processing technology, improving the efficiency of the seafood product value chain...

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, as a locality with a significant fishing ground, the exploitation and processing of aquatic products has strengthened the province's economic development. Therefore, BR-VT is gradually modernizing its fleet, focusing on offshore fishing while enhancing the role of State management and promoting digital transformation in the see food management, exploitation, and processing stages.