Opening direction for development of fish cage farming at sea

Hai Phong has great potential for developing offshore fish cage farming. However, due to maintaining traditional farming methods, lack of infrastructure and slow application of technology, the efficiency is not high.

Farmer raising fish in cages in Cat Hai special economic zone.

Traditional farming is not very effective.

According to the report of the Department of Fisheries, Livestock and Veterinary Medicine of Hai Phong, the sea cage aquaculture activities in the area are mainly carried out in the Cat Ba island area (formerly Cat Hai district), now in Cat Hai special zone. Because in the past, fish farming activities were not planned, causing environmental pollution; the water surface area was narrowed due to the dense development of cages; affecting the development of space and tourism landscape, so the city requested the locality to rearrange cage farming activities in a sustainable direction associated with tourism development and protection of natural landscapes.

After the reorganization, Cat Hai special zone currently has 135 cage aquaculture facilities in the bays of Cat Ba archipelago, including: 120 cage aquaculture facilities, 15 raft aquaculture facilities. For the 120 cage aquaculture facilities at sea, there are 10 facilities building HDPE plastic rafts, 110 facilities building wooden rafts. The special zone has assigned sea areas to 97 facilities, and arranged them into planning positions for 45 facilities/97 facilities that have assigned sea areas (46.39%). Cage aquaculture output in the first 10 months of the year is estimated at over 400 tons of various types of fish (grouper, cobia, sea bass, American snapper...).

Through the survey, the cages are still mainly raised in the traditional form. Ms. Dang Thi Thanh, Head of the Fisheries Extension Department ( Hai Phong Agricultural Extension Center) said that in recent years, households raising fish in cages in Hai Phong mainly use materials for cage frames, mostly wood, floating materials such as plastic buoys, 200-liter plastic drums, a few facilities and households have converted to replace with new materials HDPE... for farming. However, this farming system has a lifespan of only 3-5 years.

The use of this primitive material has low investment cost, cheap price but short usage time because wood, bamboo, foam is easy to rot, broken nets cause fish loss, increase risks in the farming process. Waste from this material is difficult to collect thoroughly, difficult to upgrade, repair, when damaged, the waste is discharged into the environment, drifting everywhere and floating in seawater, polluting the natural environment and losing the beauty for tourists.

Technically, at present, farmers mainly raise fish based on experience, spontaneously, without applying advanced technologies, using fish of unknown origin, and without quality assurance. Fish feed is trash fish, juvenile fish purchased from fishing vessels. If the quality of trash fish is not controlled, it is easy to carry pathogens into livestock, easily pollute the environment and cannot take initiative in food sources. The production scale is small, there is no production and consumption chain linking products. Therefore, the growth rate and survival rate are low, and economic efficiency is not high.

Agricultural extension officers visit a cage fish farming model in Cat Hai special economic zone.

Investment in infrastructure and synchronous technology

In order to turn aquaculture into a large-scale, industrial, synchronous, safe, effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly commodity production industry associated with eco-tourism, creating branded products, in 2025, Hai Phong Agricultural Extension Center will support the implementation of the national agricultural extension project "Building a model of grouper farming (pearl grouper) using HDPE cages at sea with VietGAP certification associated with product consumption". Farmers effectively implement the project and have the ability to replicate it.

Mr. Tran Van Tuyen, who raises fish in cages in Cat Hai special zone, said that his family raises 48 cages for raising various types of aquatic products. With the support of the Agricultural Extension Center, 16/48 of the above projects were implemented in 2025. By the end of the year, the project achieved initial results showing that the model reduced risks, economic efficiency was 1.5 times higher than the conventional farming model, and the products were safe... so in the coming time, the family will continue to implement this production process with the remaining cages.

Not only with the support solution of agricultural extension, according to Mr. Do Duc Thinh, Deputy Head of the Department of Fisheries, Livestock and Veterinary Medicine of Hai Phong , in the long term, The main solution for effective operation of sea cage fish farming is to encourage economic sectors to invest in the field of marine aquaculture. Along with that, develop forms of investment with participation between the state and enterprises in aquaculture development, gradually reduce the rate and improve the efficiency of public investment. On the other hand, invest in synchronous and modern technical infrastructure, including construction, upgrading, and renovation of essential infrastructure items serving marine farming areas, seed production areas...

On the local government side, Cat Hai special zone is a key area for sea cage fish farming and needs practical solutions to strengthen management and improve economic efficiency for this activity. The special zone strengthens state management of planning, especially planning for allocation and leasing of concentrated aquaculture areas, ensuring that people can raise fish with high economic value. Along with that, strengthen management and control of the quality of farmed products, regularly promote the use of environmentally friendly materials for rafts to protect the marine environment...

HUONG AN

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/mo-huong-phat-trien-nuoi-ca-long-be-tren-bien-528589.html