PROPOSAL TO INVEST US $ 363 MILLION FOR THE SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

In the afternoon of August 5, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) organized a conference to propose the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project (expected to seek loan from the World Bank) in order to consult and get input from the localities to complete the proposal before submitting to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval. The conference was attended by representatives of People's Committee, DARD of 10 coastal provinces and cities participating in the project; representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien chaired the meeting.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that the sustainable development of fisheries was facing many difficulties and challenges, especially in the context of extensive international regional integration with increasing negative impacts of climate change. Moreover, the goals that the government has set for the fisheries sector are increasing, requiring the fisheries sector to have a complete and comprehensive development solution for both fishing and aquaculture such as investment in upgrading facilities and infrastructure for aquaculture, especially shrimp farming – one of key products of the industry; upgrading fishing port infrastructure to minimize post-harvest losses while being storm shelters for fishing vessels, promoting advanced application of science, technology and innovation in management and organization, strictly complying with domestic regulations and international organization of IUU fishing, developing production towards improving the quality of added value, building brands with the value chain approach.

In order to contribute to solving the above mentioned issues, in the past 2 years, based on the achieved results and lessons learned, the successful model from the Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project (CRSD) financed by the World Bank, MARD has developed a Sustainable Fisheries Development Project and is expected to submit to the Government for approval to mobilize loans from the World Bank. Up until now, the main contents of the project have been approved, the project proposals have been synthesized from the development programs of the industry and provinces. The conference would synthesize the comments from localities to complete the project proposal, requesting the relevant ministries and branches to consider and submitting to the Prime Minister for approval of the project list.

The project will be implemented in 6 years (2021 - 2026), with a total investment of 8,359 billion VND, equivalent to 363 million USD. In particular, the loan from the World Bank (WB) is VND 6,605 billion, domestic reciprocal capital is VND 1,616 billion, and non-refundable aid from the Global Environment Fund (GEF) is VND 138 billion. The project’s objective is to improve the management capacity and value added of fishery products, deepening international integration and climate change adaptation.

Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will carry out the construction of infrastructure and supply of equipment for the Fisheries Resources Surveillance sector in order to effectively and sustainably exploit and protect marine resources; upgrade and complete the infrastructure and essential equipment for shrimp broodstock breeding in order to proactively produce domestic high-quality, disease-free broodstock. At the same time, the project will contribute to strengthen the management and organization of production against illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing (IUU); reducing losses after fishing, reducing diseases, improving quality, productivity, value of farmed shrimp products, protecting the environment and adapting to climate change.

For localities, the project will focus on activities to build and upgrade modern and synchronous fishing port infrastructure; to form and develop large-scale fishery centers of national scale, creating a driving force to support fishing, especially offshore fishing, increasing the efficiency of marine exploitation, reducing post-harvest losses. In addition, upgrading and completing the essential infrastructure of shrimp seed production areas, concentrated brackish water shrimp farming areas to produce high quality, pathogen-free, effective shrimp farming. ..

Within the scope of the project, for the components implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the project will invest in building infrastructures at the Department of Fisheries Resources Surveillance of Region I (Hai Phong), research facilities to select broodstock breeding under the Research Institute for Aquaculture No.I, II, and III in Hai Phong, Nghe An, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Bac Lieu and Khanh Hoa.

Important non-structural investment such as: building a national database on fisheries, improving IUU-compliant fishing management capacity, applying, transferring new technology, and advancing exploitation, preserved after exploitation ... would be deployed nationwide, mainly in 28 coastal provinces and cities. Of which special priority is given to the project provinces: Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang as key localities for sea fishing and brackish shrimp farming.

For components implemented by provinces, the project will be implemented in 33 districts of 10 provinces including Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.

Concluding the Conference, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien once again affirmed the necessity and importance of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project. According to the Deputy Minister, the implementation of the project will bring about tremendous economic, social and environmental benefits, contributing to job creation, income and living conditions improvement for millions of fisheries workers and people working in related fields through activities that help to increase the value of fishery products, promote international integration and adapt to climate change. The Deputy Minister directed the Project Management Board, International Cooperation Department, Directorate of Fisheries and the consulting team to have a specific work plan to ensure the project implementation according to the set schedule. The local authorities shall direct provincial departments and branches to coordinate with the units under the Ministry so that the investment content and volume of investment to be effective and replicable.