On April 1, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Soc Trang province coordinated with the People's Committee of Tran De district to organize a Met Festival and release 1.5 million breeding shrimp back into the wild to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the Vietnam Fisheries Industry's Traditional Day.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Quach Thi Thanh Binh - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Soc Trang province said - seafood has become an important economic sector contributing to the transformation of agricultural and rural structures; participating in hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and improving the lives of the community. In particular, a part of the people have risen to become rich and contributed greatly to maintaining security and protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.
According to Ms. Binh, in recent years the seafood industry has faced many challenges, the living environment is threatened, aquatic resources have been greatly degraded due to the impact of climate change and irresponsible exploitation activities. In particular, the yellow card warning of the European Commission (EC) has greatly affected the exploitation and export of seafood in the country in general and Soc Trang province in particular.
"Every year, the unit coordinates with functional sectors, organizations, unions, businesses and philanthropists to release about 2 million aquatic breeds back into the wild. This activity aims to restore and regenerate aquatic resources; promote, raise awareness and sense of responsibility in the work of preserving, protecting and developing aquatic resources," said Ms. Binh.
Soc Trang is one of the provinces with key fishing grounds with a strong development in the fish industry for a long time. The whole province currently has about 1,000 fishing vessels, of which more than 340 fishing vessels with a length of over 15 m have been installed with voyage monitoring equipment. With a fishing workforce of up to 307,672 people, including about 5,630 workers directly at sea.
This province contributes a significant part to the country's seafood output. According to statistics, in 2024, the exploitation output will reach 68,581 tons. In particular, from 2023 to now, Soc Trang province has not had any cases of fishing vessels violating foreign waters.
