TUYÊN QUANG – Northern provinces hold considerable untapped aquaculture potential, according to a conference held in the northern province of Tuyên Quang yesterday. 
The northern region boasts rich natural resources along with a dense river network and a number of big hydropower reservoirs like Thác Bà, Sơn La and Tuyên Quang, which can serve as aquaculture grounds, according to the Directorate of Fisheries. 
The current aquaculture area has just reached one-third of the potential in the region. It covered more than 200,000 ha in 2016, including over 157,000 ha farming freshwater species and 47,300 ha farming saltwater and brackish water species. 
Aquaculture in the region generated more than 800,000 tonnes of farmed products in 2016. 
The directorate said the remaining potential area for aquaculture is big, about over 454,000ha. Notably, hundreds of thousands of hectares of water surface in lakes and hydropower and irrigation reservoirs in mountainous provinces are a favourable condition for fish farming. 
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vũ Văn Tám asked localities to adjust their aquaculture plans to local potential, natural conditions and socio-economic development orientations. 
They should enhance the management of the fry quality while facilitating production under co-operative groups, cooperatives and aquaculture clubs to improve efficiency and cut production costs. 
Aside from harvesting, localities also need to preserve and recover natural aquatic resources, especially rare species with high economic value, he said, adding that it is important to protect the environment for aquaculture. 
At the conference, participants discussed solutions to address obstacles to and expand aquaculture in the northern region such as developing personnel, tightening management, surveying the market, building new farming processes, producing vaccines for indigenous fish species and issuing support policies. — VNS