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The Vietnam Fisheries Association has requested the WWF in six European countries to apologise for putting tra pangasius onto its 2010-2011 consumer red list.
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| WWF representative will work with Vietnamese concerned agencies this morning (December 15) |
The consumer red list is considered to be a consumer guidance manual for buyers and importers. The WWF in six European countries, comprising of Germany, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland, advised consumers not to buy tra fish, saying the fish farms in Vietnam have polluted the environment.
The association made the request after receiving the WWF’s assessment criteria and results of tra fish breeding recently.
The assessments were found inappropriate and only focused on the impact to the environment and diseases but were not based on the sustainable aquatic breeding criteria, including food safety and social policy, as stipulated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The association also added that the assessment results were not transparent because WWF did not inform Vietnam during its assessment process.
Vietnam has 6,000 hectares of tra fishing farms in 2010, however, WWF based their conclusions only on a small portion of these fisheries.
“The case not only smears Vietnamese fisheries prestige, but also causes European consumers to forge negative opinions on Vietnamese sea food industry in general,” said a representative from the association.
This morning (December 15), Mark Powell, the International Global Seafood Leader of WWF, will come to Hanoi to answer questions related to evaluation methods of tra fish.
WWF Vietnam has agreed to temporarily remove tra fish from their 2010 consumer guidance manuals in European countries.
