The joy of offshore aquaculture

The fish fry are released into square and round HDPE cages using CNC technology in the Hon Noi and Dam Bay farming areas...

About 6 months ago, we, along with Mr. Vo Lam Dong - Director of Hon Noi High-Tech Marine Farming Cooperative (CNC) (Cam Lam commune) and Mr. Vu Khac Muoi - Head of Dam Bay CNC Marine Farming Cooperative, released fingerlings in square and round HDPE cages using CNC in Hon Noi and Dam Bay farming areas. Mr. Dong and Mr. Muoi are two of the pioneer fishermen in the country raising aquatic products in the sea up to 6 nautical miles. Recently, we returned to these farming areas to "witness" the harvest of aquatic products with results exceeding expectations from the first batch of yellowfin pompano.

Sweet results

At 5am, on the first Sunday of November, we arrived at Hon Ro port. At this time, Mr. Dong and his wife from Cam Lam commune were already at the port; Mr. Vu Khac Muoi from Nam Nha Trang ward had also just arrived. When he heard the owner of the free ship (seafood ship) say everything was ready, Mr. Muoi turned to urge everyone to board the ship to go to the farming area to harvest yellowfin pompano. From Hon Ro port, 2 ships followed Mr. Muoi to Dam Bay farming area, Mr. Dong and I boarded the remaining ship heading to Hon Noi farming area.

Harvesting yellowfin pompano raised by fishermen in Hon Noi farming area.

The wooden boat moves at a speed of about 6 nautical miles/hour, heading towards the dawn in the distance. When asked what makes him confident in investing in offshore aquaculture? Mr. Dong looks towards Hon Noi and answers: "I am an "amateur", switching to marine aquaculture but choosing offshore aquaculture, where the waves are big, the currents are strong, even those with a lot of experience in cage farming do not dare to try. But it is time for fishermen to think big, do big to get big results. CNC marine aquaculture is the "key" that helps me feel confident when going far out to sea to raise fish." When the province implemented the CNC marine aquaculture pilot project, Mr. Dong and his wife were the first household in Cam Lam commune to register to participate and were sponsored by the Thien Tam Fund of Vingroup Corporation for 50% of the cost to invest in 2 HDPE round cages with a volume of ^800m3 , using CNC equipment to raise yellowfin pompano in the Hon Noi farming area.

As a pioneer in offshore aquaculture, Mr. Dong also had many "bruises". On the first day of raising fish, due to lack of experience in transportation, there were many losses. His family's sea farming boat worth nearly 200 million VND was also sunk by waves in a storm, forcing him to buy a new one for 280 million VND to use as a means of getting in and out of the farming area... For that reason, Mr. Dong was excited that today he would personally harvest the plump yellowfin pompano that he had raised.

Arriving at the farming area, the boat docked close to Mr. Dong's two cages. After a while of pushing the fish to the surface of the water on the side of the boat, the fish harvesting began. People standing below the cages used large nets to scoop the fish, while on the deck of the boat someone held the nets and poured the fish into large plastic barrels, each holding about 80kg of fish. After more than 4 hours of harvesting, all the fish in the cages had filled 63 plastic barrels, packed tightly in 2 holds, overflowing onto the deck of the boat. Listening to the people who specialized in harvesting fish, they estimated the harvest yield to be about 5 tons, with fish size of 0.5 - 0.8 kg/fish (an increase of more than 1 ton compared to Mr. Dong's previous estimate); with a purchase price of 100,000 VND/kg, this yellowfin pomfret cage alone brought Mr. Dong's family 500 million VND.

Mr. Vo Lam Dong's family harvests fish raised in Hon Noi sea area.

Leaving Hon Noi farming area, we took a boat for about 30 minutes to Dam Bay marine farming area, where 5 members of the CNC Dam Bay Marine Farming Cooperative have been investing in marine fish farming for about 6 months. When we arrived, Mr. Muoi's family was focusing on harvesting a school of pomfret, weighing about 0.8 kg each. This time, his family harvested a total of 13 tons of fish; currently there are still more than 70 tons of fish being raised and not yet harvested. Having many years of experience in raising marine fish using traditional wooden cages in the Tri Nguyen area, Mr. Muoi compared: “CNC marine farming in the Dam Bay sea area has many outstanding advantages: The water quality is always circulating, the environmental indicators are very good so the fish grow faster and have fewer diseases than nearshore farming, in addition, the farming period is shortened by more than 1 month, the investment cost is also greatly reduced, the loss rate during the farming process is less than 10% (traditional nearshore farming has a loss rate of 30%). With a selling price of 100,000 VND/kg, farmers achieve a profit of up to more than 60%. I am very excited that the first farming season is so effective”.

Open the way to the ocean

Thus, in the first trial farming season in the sea up to 6 nautical miles, the households investing in farming in Hon Noi and Dam Bay farming areas all reaped sweet results. More importantly, the 6 months of staying at sea helped the households gain more experience to make the following farming seasons more effective. “During the days of going ashore to avoid storm No. 13, monitoring the cages through the offshore camera surveillance system, I saw very large waves, up to 2-3m high. But thanks to the cage frame system with 3 sturdy bearing rings, the anchor system was designed and arranged to suit the strong current, the cages and the fish in the cages were not affected. I am completely confident with this HDPE cage system. Next season, I will adjust the time frame to end the farming season before the rainy and stormy season and will invest and expand the farming scale to 10-12 tons of fish/cage/crop”.

Harvesting yellowfin pompano raised by Mr. Vu Khac Muoi's family in Dam Bay sea area.

According to the analysis of farmers, although the initial investment cost of CNC cages is large, about 280 million VND/ ^800m3 cage, but the durability is superior, the cage life is long, farmers do not spend much on repair and replacement costs as often as wooden cages; the farming output is 10 times higher than conventional wooden cages, so the efficiency of CNC marine farming is much higher than traditional farming. Not only that, what helps pioneering households to go offshore to raise fish more secure is that they all have aquaculture licenses in hand; the decision to grant water surface area is also being submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval in the coming time.

Discussing with Mr. Muoi about the wishes of the farmers, he proposed: “Currently, CNC marine farming areas have been planned. However, the infrastructure of this area has not been invested yet. We hope that the province will invest in a buoy system to identify farming areas and prohibit fishing vessels from operating in CNC marine farming areas; there should soon be standards on cages so that people can invest in synchronous farming in offshore “industrial clusters”... Meanwhile, Mr. Dong and the farmers in Hon Noi said that the access to Hon Noi area for aquaculture farmers in Cam Lam commune and Cam Ranh area is very far. Therefore, they hope that the province will study and build a ferry terminal in Bai Dai area to serve the logistics of marine farming in Hon Noi.

Mr. Vo Lam Dong (left cover) harvests farmed fish.

Mr. Le Dinh Khiem - Head of the Department of Fisheries and Islands expressed: "From the success of the pilot model of CNC marine farming in the open sea area of ​​Cam Lap (Nam Cam Ranh commune) before and the success of farming households in the sea areas of Hon Noi and Dam Bay, it has shown that CNC marine farming in offshore waters brings outstanding efficiency in both economy and ability to adapt to climate change, and withstand heavy storms. These are positive results in the implementation of the Pilot Project on CNC marine farming development in Khanh Hoa approved by the Prime Minister. To support farming households, the Department has proactively guided units and individuals to carry out licensing procedures, assign sea areas for long-term marine farming; support and create favorable conditions for qualified organizations and individuals to participate in CNC marine farming in the province's sea areas".

Up to now, the whole province has had 2 enterprises and 37 households granted licenses for marine aquaculture; another enterprise is carrying out investment procedures for aquaculture. Policies to support and encourage the development of marine aquaculture, including accident insurance policies for workers working on aquaculture cages and on vehicles serving aquaculture activities at sea are being completed and submitted to competent authorities for approval. The Department of Fisheries and Islands will continue to promote propaganda, mobilization, and support people to convert traditional cages to HDPE and PPR cages to help minimize risks and increase economic value. In addition, in coordination with the Thien Tam Fund of Vingroup, we will continue to implement activities to support people to convert and develop CNC marine aquaculture in the province's sea areas.

HAI LANG

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/kinh-te/202511/niem-vui-nuoi-bien-xa-bo-83f0db7/