First, investment must be sufficient to ensure an annual growth rate of seafood production of 4-5 % per annum. To meet the target of one million tonnes of seafood by 2000, the industry needs to maintain current capability of ships and boats to ensure exploitation of 700,000 tonnes of seafood per annum and about 500-800 new and well-equipped ships with a capacity of 90 HP upward will be needed each year.

Second, fish related service activities are to be pushed. By 2000, with VND1,183 billion (US$ 0,8 billion) to be invested in the building and repair of ships and boats.

Third, aquaculture should be attended to adequately. The industry strive to reach an average annual aquacultural yield growth of 6-7%.

Quantity, quality and value of aquatic varieties should increase. In 1997, a total of 6,000 aquacultural cages are to be developed in rivers and lakes. In addition, a few national breeding farms in different provinces and regions will get investment to be upgraded. A series of entities specializing in processing food for shrimp and fish, plus a number of disease prevention stations are expected to be established.

Fourth, aquatic product processing and export is another focal point. Accordingly, around VND1,510 billion (US$ 1 billion) investment is required to meet a yearly growth rate of 18-20% of export turnover.

However, the electric prod is only rudimentary device compared with some other fishing instruments, such as small-mesh nets to catch fish, event shrimp eggs and 2-3 month old shrimp at river mouths or areas close to shore, or using square dip-nets to catch 1-2 month old fish, and cattle-fish 2-3 cm long. Worse still, in many coastal provinces, explosives are rampantly used to catch fish, causing a big headache for local authorities.

Conservation status. Though an ordinance protecting marine product resource was proclaimed and an organization specializing in protecting sea resources was established, nothing much has changed.

Recommendation. It is time that the fishery industry has effective solutions to rectify the problems caused by poaching. Local authorities should educate fishermen about the harm that is done, conduct effective management courses and strictly punish those who violate the regulations on protecting sea resources.

Marine protected areas are needed for conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. International cooperation is needed for determining optimal way of reaching sustainable management and conservation of natural resources.

In addition, regulations on the size and kinds of fish and shrimps, which are allowed to be caught, should be applied. Every infringement should be punished strictly. By doing so Viet Nam's fishery will be sustainable into the future, and remain a key industry in the cause of national economic development. �

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