An aquaculture producer feeding the fish at a Vietnamese panga farm. (Photo: MARD)

Govt, WWF sign MoU on sustainable tra farming

VIET NAM
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 15:50 (GMT + 9)

Certain Vietnamese associations plus the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have signed a long-term cooperation memorandum of understanding (MoU) to assist Vietnam’s tra fish products fulfill the requirements of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification and obtain the credit label.

For the agreement, the WWF will provide presentations on ASC criteria for pangasius farmers for the first six months of 2011 and then gather opinions from experts as well as Vietnam’s tra breeders. The Fund will cover the cost of these presentations. 

Once the WWF has collected the surveys and if the Fund’s criteria are suitable for Vietnam’s tra aquaculture industry, farmers will begin raising Vietnamese catfish under the ASC’s global sustainable development standards.

The MoU was signed just two days after Mark Powell, global seafood coordinator for WWF, agreed to take out Vietnamese pangasius from the organisation’s red list of fish to avoid in its consumer guide, reports SGGP.

Under the cooperation agreement, the WWF will endorse ASC certified Vietnamese panga internationally to help fish breeders better market their fish and earn a premium value for the product. 

A pangasius farm in An Giang province, Vietnam. (Photo: WWF Vietnam)

The Vietnamese associations that signed the MoU included the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFISH). 

Nguyen Tu Cuong, the standing committee member of VINAFISH, said that applying ASC certification is wholly contingent on whether the WWF’s criteria properly pertain to Vietnamese breeders of pangasius.

“Six months is the necessary period for tra breeders and related parties to learn about and give opinions on ASC standards. Vietnam’s tra breeders will only apply these criteria when they know clearly what the ASC is and whether the ASC is necessary for them or not,” he elaborated.

Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairperson of VASEP, said that the Fisheries General Department and WWF aim to achieve international sustainable development standards of 25 per cent for the country’s export pangasius volume for next year and 2012, with 10 per cent to be certified by the Council.

The goal will rise to 75 per cent, with 30 per cent certified by the ASC by 2014. Starting in 2015, it is hoped that 100 per cent of export tra will achieve international standards on sustainable development and that half will be ASC-certified.

Vietnam exports 650,000 tonnes of panga annually and the volume will escalate to some 800,000 tonnes in the next five years, such that 400,000 tonnes of Vietnamese catfish will be meeting ASC standards, Dung told.

The WWF promised that the product’s prices will rocket if it achieves ASC certification, he said.

At this time, Vietnam’s pangasius breeders are raising the fish under the Food Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Code of Conduct (COC). 

Related articles:

- WWF apologizes, vows to remove panga from its red list 

- VASEP asks WWF to reconsider its red-listing of Vietnamese catfish 

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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