On March 31, a ceremony was jointly held by the Ministry of Agriculrure and Rural Development and Quang Ninh province to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam's traditional Day of fishery sector.
Speaking at the ceremony, Quang Ninh’s Chairman Nguyen Duc Long reminded participants of the day Uncle Ho visited people and fishermen in Tuan Chau and Cat Ba islands on April 1, 1959 which then has been become the traditional day of Vietnam’s fishery sector.
He highlighted the fishery sector’s special role in the province’s economic structure due to the long beach and large fishing ground. Quang Ninh has recently applied updated technologies to offshore fishing and the production of fishery products with a view to developing this sector in a sustainable way.
The growth rate of this sector reaches 6-8% annually, the number of offshore ships in 2019 raises by 2.6 times in comparison with that of 2014. There has been a remarkable increase in local fishermen’s earnings and a lot of people have become wealthy thanks to fishery jobs.
By 2020, Quang Ninh’s fishery industry targets to have reached 130,000 tons of products including 60,000 tons collected from exploring activities and 70,000 tons from aquaculture; the fishery economy will have achieved 3% of the province’s GRDP; about 62,000 jobs will have generated and some fishing centers with modern production infrastructure will have been operated.
Addressing the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung acknowledged efforts and contributions of the sector to national development and defense.
The volume of Vietnam’s aquatic products exceeded 7.4 million tonnes in 2018, a 5.6-fold increase compared with that of 1995. They have been sold to over 170 markets, with the total export turnover surpassing 9 billion USD last year, making Vietnam one of the world’s largest aquatic product exporters.
He confirmed the sector’s future goals to step up industrialization and modernization, achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, become a major commodity sector with appropriate production organization forms and structure, gradually raise income and living conditions of farmers and fishermen, protect the ecosystem and contribute to national defense and security.
A number of activities held to celebrate this important day consist of a trade fair, an arts performance, a scientific conference on the assessment of 15 years of the implementation of Vietnam-China fishing career cooperation agreement, etc.
By Phuong Loan
