Quang Ninh turns fisheries into a 'gold mine'

Recently, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, chaired a meeting and listened to reports on building the Project for Sustainable Development of Fisheries Economics of Quang Ninh Province until 2030, with a vision to 2050.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Son, Director of the Quang Ninh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that if the project is effectively implemented, it will stop illegal exploitation, contributing to regenerating and recovering aquatic resources and marine biodiversity. At the same time, effectively exploiting marine resources as a premise for building, consolidating, and promoting on-site forces to serve national defense and maritime security strategies.

At the meeting, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Cuong requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to soon complete the project, ensuring progress and quality. Mr. Cuong emphasized that the inclusion of goals, targets, and tasks for fisheries economic development into the socio-economic development plans of the province and localities must be consistent with the practical situation, mechanisms, and policies and can tally. Solutions must ensure feasibility. It is compulsory to clarify the scale, structure, and solutions to mobilize resources. Research more mechanisms and policies to include in the project and clearly define the responsibilities of units in implementing the project.

"Gold mine" of Quang Ninh fisheries

Quang Ninh fishing grounds are one of four key fishing grounds in the country, capable of allowing sustainable annual exploitation of about 52,000 tons.

In recent years, Quang Ninh's fisheries industry has made progress and achieved important results. In 2023, total seafood output reached over 175,324 tons (exploitation output reached 77,039 tons, aquaculture output reached 83,834 tons), a growth rate of 3.7%.

In particular, in the 2018–2023 period, the aquaculture area has grown significantly. As of 2023, the total aquaculture area has reached 32,092 hectares, an increase of 11,347 hectares compared to 2018. Large localities in the province, such as Van Don, Quang Yen, Dam Ha, and Mong Cai, have also proactively produced seeds of key farming objects such as shrimp, crab, sea fish, etc.

Currently, the whole province has 16 facilities participating in aquatic seed production and business. The number of seeds supplied reached about 3 billion heads, accounting for 40%.

According to assessments by industry experts, Quang Ninh's sea area is a collection of many different marine ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, coral reefs, seagrass beds, etc. The diversity of ecosystems, along with diverse and abundant aquatic resources with many species of high economic value, facilitates seafood exploitation and marine conservation.

On the other hand, a large, wind-tight sea area with many large and small islands that have clear and clean sea water and are surrounded by an outer island system is an ideal condition to develop marine farming in an industrial and high-tech direction. Along with that, favorable climatic conditions, a regular and stable diurnal tide regime, and a large tidal amplitude (up to 4.3 m) enable easy water exchange between aquaculture areas and salt water sources from the sea, making it convenient to get water in and out of aquaculture ponds.

In addition, Quang Ninh province has advantages to develop marine aquaculture, including a coastline 250 km long, over 40,000 ha of tidal flats, nearly 19,000 ha of mangrove forests, 20,000 ha of strait and bay surface, fishing grounds covering over 6,100 km², and three marine protected areas.

According to the Project on Marine Aquaculture Development till 2030, with a vision to 2045, the Government determines to build Hai Phong - Quang Ninh into a marine farming center associated with a large fisheries center. In particular, the project's goal is that by 2045, marine farming will become an important part of the fisheries industry, accounting for over 25% of the total output and earning more than USD 4 billion in export turnover.

Quang Ninh Provincial Planning for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050, also determines to develop fisheries into a key economic sector.