Soc Trang (VNA) – Up to 30 shrimpfarming cooperatives in the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, CaMau have achieved the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification onresponsible aquaculture.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) inVietnam and the Nordic Seafood Group – a Norwegian seafood importer andSoc Trang Seafood JSC have jointly organised training courses to help thecooperatives fulfill the ASC requirements.

Huynh Quoc Tinh from WWF Vietnam said small-scaleshrimp farms produce 80 percent of the domestic shrimp output, hence theirimportance. However, it is difficult for those farms to achieve internationalstandards, which is the reason why WWF Vietnam aims to provide support for thetargeted group.

Shrimp farming has helped improve theliving conditions of thousands of households in the Mekong Delta region.However, many of them shifted to shrimp farming regardless of unfavourablecondition, resulting in low quality, disease infection and negative impacts onthe environment, he said.

In order to get the ASC certification,farmers will be required to make basic changes in their practice, from managingthe environmental quality, shrimp fry, shrimp food to origin verification.

Hoa Nghia Cooperative in the Mekong Deltaprovince of Soc Trang is the first one in the province receiving the ASC certificationfor its 60 hectares of shrimp cultivation.

Director of the cooperative Ngo Thanh Tuansaid the recognition will help the cooperative ship its shrimp to the bigmarkets in the world, such as nations in Europe and the Americas.

According to Tuan, the cooperative canproduce 600 tonnes of shrimp meeting the ASC standard per year.

Director of the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development Luong Minh Quyet said, the recognition is agood signal for the province’s agricultural sector as well as local farmers.

The ASC has so far granted qualitycertifications to around 3,000 labels and over 500,000 tonnes of products inthe world market.-VNA