Making small-scale fish farming sustainable in Vietnam Sustainability was the ‘buzz-word’ at a recent conference in Hanoi looking at the long-term viability of commercial pangasius catfish farming in Vietnam, sponsored by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). At the conference, many experts said that they believe the industry, as it exists today, is not truly sustainable because it relies too heavily on external feeds, chemicals, energy inputs and lacks sufficient profitability.    The key components of sustainability as they defined it in relation to fish farming— is that it be profitable, use non-renewable resources efficiently, enhance renewable resources and improve the quality of life in rural areas. If the pangasius industry is to have long-term commercial feasibility, fish farmers as well as other businesses in the industry must improve both their earnings and ability to compete in the global marketplace, said speaker Le Xuan Thinh. Overcrowding of fish farms has led to problems with environmental degradation, disease, off-flavour, and a reduction in individual performance of the pangasius species itself, which in turn has resulted in overuse and abuse of chemicals.  The long-term results of these intensive production practices have been economically and environmentally devastating Thinh said, and they have also manifest in antibiotic resistant bacteria, thereby placing the future of the industry in jeopardy. “To get the industry on the right track there needs to be strengthened management and structural change along the entire supply chain from hatcheries, feed producers and processers located in Vietnam to the traders and end-use customers in foreign countries,” said Thinh. In a prepared speech, Thinh cited statistics showing the nation’s catfish industry exports have declined overall from 2002 onward in terms of both volume and value. “Three or four years ago everything came to a crunch for pangasius exports,” said Thinh. “Beginning in 2002 and through 2009 pangasius exports grew on average nearly two and one-half fold annually, but then overseas sales tapped out and in 2011 began their descent.”  Thinh, who is the manager of a project aiming to establish a sustainable pangasius supply chain in Vietnam (SUPA) by 2020, forcefully made the point that the profit margins for fish farmers are precariously too thin. The cost of grains for feeding catfish have and continue to soar while the sales price of catfish is on a marked path spiralling downwards with the average sales price for catfish having gone from US$3.11 per kilo in 2002 to recently as low as US$2.10 per kilo. Meanwhile the high feed and waste loads associated with intensive catfish farming have significantly negatively impacted water quality in production ponds creating heightened dependence on external feed, energy and chemical inputs. They have also resulted in increased energy costs as in many instances more frequent, if not daily, aeration is now needed. Thinh emphasized the point that businesses in the industry need to restructure and strictly apply sustainable standards such as those promulgated by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Global GAP. “Without such restructuring farmers and others in the industry are at extremely high risk of going broke,” said Thinh. “Poor management techniques have cut deeply into the profitability of fish farming and only by restructuring and refocusing will the best managed businesses have any reasonable chance of long-term survival,” he said. The ACS and Global GAP standards will assist the nation’s farmers and others develop their capacity, increase product quality, mitigate the environmental impact and reduce production costs, all of which add directly to the bottom line earnings. Thinh said businesses must also be more innovative in coming up with novel catfish products to sell as well as get more creative in their marketing efforts to nurture their overseas retail markets. VASEP Deputy General Secretary Nguyen Hoai Nam, in turn talked at length about the importance of implementing better more creative marketing and public relations policies and procedures. Certainly, small-scale, low-input farming practices offer an attractive opportunity for improving the sustainability of catfish farming and have distinct advantages over large farms, said Nam— but it’s going to take significant reform and a lot of hard work to make it happen. VOV