While several aquatic resources are being over exploited, Vietnamese consumers have been urged to consume sustainably caught and raised seafood.
Vietnamese consumers advised to buy seafood that is sustainably caught and raised
Experts said that destructive fishing methods are still rampant in some parts of the Asia Pacific, including Vietnam, and are rapidly destroying critical coral reef ecosystems, especially the Coral Triangle.
While consumers in several foreign countries, particularly in the Europe are provided with consumer guides that help them to choose aquatic products with ecological labels, most Vietnamese consumers do not yet have ways of tracking the origins of such products in the market or provided at restaurants.
In order to raise people’s awareness of the issue, a sustainable seafood partnership between the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Vietnam and the chef Bobby Chinn was launched on October 15 in Hanoi.
Speaking at the launch, Ngo Tien Chuong, WWF Vietnam’s Aquaculture Coordinator, said, “Without urgent measures from fishing companies, seafood retailers, and consumers, fish stocks will continue to decline and we may not have enough fish resources left in the near future to secure food and the livelihoods of those in the industry.”
Bobby Chinn said that we are facing a major issue, as aquatic resources are declining and Vietnam is contributing to the situation.
“I’ve lived in Vietnam for 18 years and don’t have any idea about the origins of aquatic products in the country until I worked with WWF. More people need to understand the direct link between the seafood on their plate and the state of our ocean’s resources,” Bobby commented.
Under the partnership, Bobby Chinn introduced a “responsible seafood menu” at his restaurant, consisting of dishes using responsibly-sourced products from seafood companies that comply with best management practices in seafood production, some of which have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)—the most credible certification and eco-labelling organizations for wild capture fisheries and farmed seafood respectively.
“This is among first initiatives in Vietnam and it is considered an alarm bell for the country’s fishery industry to continue to pursue sustainable development,” Chuong said.
As part of the effort to foster sustainable aquaculture, WWF has been working closely with the private and public sectors to help improve fishing practices through fisheries and aquaculture improvement projects that help fisheries adopt better management practices, and assisting them to eventually attain MSC and ASC certification.
The WWF helped the clam fishery business in Ben Tre Province to be the first in Southeast Asia to get MSC certification in 2009.
Other efforts include the persuasion of fishers to transform from using straight hooks to circle hooks in order to increase fishery quality and reduce the rate of turtles being coughed accidently.
According to Chuong, 29 tra fish farming areas in Vietnam have been granted ASC certificates, accounting for 70% of the country’s tra fish exports. Ten more areas would receive the certification soon, proving the growing trend of sustainable production.
He said, however, said that most ecologically-labelled products are for export, so many local consumers have yet to be aware of sustainability-related issues.
He proposed that a market survey should be conducted on the study of local consumers’ taste and learn why they have yet to prefer tra fish in order to draw up a long-term development plan.
Tran Thi Thu Nga, Chairwoman of Ben Tre Fishery Association, said that since clams in Ben Tre were granted with a MSC certificates, farmers’ selling prices have increased by between 10% and 15%. However, no significant changes in export prices have been recorded, which has discouraged farmers from expanding the sustainable clam farming model.
She added that the government should issue policies to help increase MSC-certified clams, strengthen the development of a sustainable clam supply chain, increase support to localities that pursue MSC certificate and lower fees to get certification.
