Central coastal region focuses on developing maritime economy

Central coastal region focuses on developing maritime economy

The central coastal region is eyeing a long-term strategy on developing the maritime economy in order to fully tap its abundant sea resources.

The region comprises nine provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Binh Thuan with a total coastline length of more than 1,400km and the two large fishing grounds of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

However, due to out-of-date fishing and preservation methods, the seafood output and value still remain low.

In 2012, the region’s fisheries sector posted 27.3 trillion VND (1.28 billion USD) in production value, accounting for 34 percent of the total agro-fishery-forestry output but just nearly 5 percent of the total export value of the region.

To further develop the maritime economy, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics Tran Dinh Thien said that it is necessary for the region to have a long-term strategy for off-shore fishing and sea food processing to create its special products.

Meanwhile, local authorities have called for more support policy for fishermen, particularly credit access, so that they can build modern vessels for off-shore fishing.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam, the Ministry has submitted to the government a proposal on building five modern fishery logistics centres in the central region.-VNA

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