Concerted efforts by all stakeholders have seen fisheries productionand exports rise, Nguyen Huy Dien, deputy director of the Department ofAquaculture, tells Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times). * In 2013, Vietnamese aquaculture exports brought ina record of 7 billion USD. What were the factors behind this year'sgrowth? The high export turnover of the fisherysector in 2013 can be attributed to fish farmers and those participatingin aquaculture production, processing and export. Last year, export turnover stood at 6.8 billion USD. It is expected thatthis year the figure will be around 7 billion USD – up 10.6 percentfrom last year. This year was also the first year weranked 3rd in the world for shrimp exports with a massive 2.5 billionUSD turnover - up 33 percent against the previous year. This sector is vital and accounts for 44 percent of total export turnover for the whole industry. The driving force for this success in shrimp exports was thepopularity of white-leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) which jumped interms of output and export value. In terms ofvolume, Vietnam exported more than 6 million tonnes of marine-products,an increase of 2.1 percent against last year. The export of tiger prawnsaccounted for roughly 548,000 tonnes, an increase of 12.3 percentagainst the previous year, while the export of Tra fish (Pangasius) wasaround 1.15 million tonnes - down 7.6 percent from 2012. * In your opinion, what were the factors leading to such success? This success is the result of big efforts made by the whole industry,from fish farmers to processing workers and managers. Under the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, fish farmers in the Mekong Delta have quickly transitionedto producing white-leg shrimp after paying close attention to thedifficulties of neighbouring countries in rearing this species and aclear demand from the market. As a result, the acreage utilised toproduce white-leg shrimp in Vietnam has doubled in only a couple ofyears. Another important factor I should mention isthat this year, shrimp farmers were successful in treating commondiseases affecting white-leg shrimp. Additionally and with activesupport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam won its law suitagainst the US's anti dumping duties on shrimp and the fight againsttrade barriers created by foreign importing companies. * Produce quality remains a head ache for the industry. What has yourdepartment done to ensure adequate measures for quality? We have made big efforts to alleviate quality concerns by controllingthe inputs. Accordingly, my department has organised countlessinspections to monitor the quality of parent shrimp imported fromThailand, Indonesia and Singapore and used for aqua-cultural productionhere. In 2013, we selected 25-30 couples of highyield shrimps to raise as "breeders" for the next generations. Atpresent, there are more than 1,700 breeding grounds nation-wide fortiger prawns and 583 breeding farms for white-leg shrimp. Meanwhile, we also give specific directives to help tra fish farmersselect high quality tra fish for their own production. We also set atarget that by 2015, Vietnam will have high quality tra fish to provideto farmers in the Mekong Delta to phase out the old species. Importantly, we have also encouraged fish farmers in all the 63provinces and cities nation-wide to apply the Viet Gap standards. Ofcourse, before introducing the Viet Gap criteria, we organised trainingcourses to help farmers build the capacity to do so. * What does 2014 hold for the fisheries industry? It is projected that 2014 will be a tough year for the fisheriesindustry, as competitors in other countries will have recovered fromtheir losses from last year. In addition, we cannotrule out the possibility of the return of some shrimp epidemics iffarmers don't keep their ponds up to scratch. Though 2013 was a successful for the white-leg shrimp, we will keep asking farmers to continue to rear tiger prawns. Vietnam has comparative advantages in breeding tiger prawns compared with our neighbours. For the white-leg shrimp, we advise farmers not to increase theirrearing acreage too much to avoid supply outstripping demand from theworld market. Thailand and China have recoveredtheir losses last year, so we advise them to keep productivity of thewhite-leg shrimps to a maximum of 20 percent higher than that of 2013. In 2014, my department will being making efforts tocreate better linkages in the value chain of tra fish production toimprove the returns of those involved./.