Partners from the SEAT project attended the recent Brussels Seafood show including the two interns Doug Waley and Thao Van Nguyen. David Little , Francis Murray and Jimmy Young from Univ of Stirling had discussions with a variety of Asian and European seafood buyers and sellers whilst also solliciting feedback on the SEAT project’s development of the Ethical Aquatic Food Index EAFI .

VIET NAM
Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 15:40 (GMT + 9)

Authorities in Vietnam’s Mekong delta provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre are requesting that shrimp farmers pause the breeding of baby shrimps to stop any incidences of disease.

Trinh Ngoc Minh, deputy head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tien Giang, believes that delaying the breeding of a new school of shrimps will slash the chances of any spread of disease.

Tien Giang’s People’s Committee is targeting organisations and farmers that raise white-legged and tiger shrimps. Authorities want farmers to stop putting baby shrimps into breeding tanks to allow time to clean the tanks and kill any viruses before the upcoming harvest that will run from 1 October 2011 to 15 January 2012.

The farmers in districts Go Cong Dong and Tan Phu Dong of Tien Giang province breed shrimp across 1,200 ha of farmland and bring in lofty profits. Regardless, the government does not want farmers to open additional farms, SGGP reports.

In Ben Tre province, the People’s Committee has also required that shrimp farmers push back the breeding of both kinds of shrimp for the next harvest until the administration issues new orders.

Ben Tre authorities noted that bad weather is not conducive for shrimp breeding because such conditions make the species more susceptible to and likely to spread the disease.

The government has asked related agencies to raise farmers’ awareness across the region and make sure they abide by the rules.

Meanwhile, shrimp prices in Tra Vinh Province have fallen despite the shortage. Local farmers and officials think there may be foul play on the part of shrimp dealers and processors.

Prices have dropped by VND 15,000 (USD 0.71) – VND 20,000 (USD 0.95) a kg from early August, according to local farmers.

As well as authorities they said that shrimp dealers and processing factories are buying shrimp there at prices lower than in nearby provinces by between VND 5,000 (USD 0.24) and VND 10,000 (USD 0.47) a kg.

Duong Tan Dom, official from Cau Ngang District Agriculture and Rural Development office, said that as the district’s farmers have harvested 7,500 tonnes of shrimp this season, they are going to lose tens of billions of dongs in profits.

In Soc Trang province, the shrimp industry is facing other problems: a disease outbreak was announced last week. It appears on shrimp bred between 20 and 35 days and caused necrosis to the shrimp’s liver and pancreas.

Provincial agriculture authorities have since required the testing of any shrimp before it can be transported to and from the province.

The lower production of raw shrimp due to disease outbreaks in black tiger shrimp has driven many farmers to switch to whiteleg shrimp (vannamei), a move which is mitigating the shortage of raw materials. Vannamei has a better source of seed, high disease resistance and a plentiful output.

Article from FIS

These will involve shadowing the Senior Vice President of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee and Member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson during the visit of the Vietnamese Fisheries Minister to the Brussels European Sea Food Show (23rd April 2012) in order to develop an assessment of the outcomes of the visit. The interns will also be involved in developing relationships with European Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) before and after the show, with regard to on-going action research with the SEAT project.

Candidates should have strong communication and interpersonal skills with a background in any or all of the following being advantageous: aquaculture, fisheries, aquatic animal market and value chains, processing, experience of working in Thailand, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, media, audio-visual and interviewing techniques. We are looking for one European and one Asian Intern. Closing date 15th March 2012.

Applicants should send one page summary document on their views, perceptions and if necessary their experiences of the increasing trade of farmed aquatic products from Asia into European markets . For further details please contact David Little Inst. of Aquaculture Univ. of Stirling UK dcl1@stir.ac.uk

New SEAT video: Now over 50% of EU seafood is imported from outside Europe with european consumers increasingly eating farmed fish, shrimp and prawns from the rapidly growing Asian Aquaculture sector.

The EC funded FP7 SEAT project is studying this increasing trade into Europe of aquaculture products from 4 Asian countries China, Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh, right along the value chains from input suppliers, producers, processors, through market chain, regulators, food service sector and finally to the consumer, with one of the key project objectives being the production of an Ethical Aquaculture Food Index (EAFI) which will better inform key actors along the production and markets chain of key criteria related to the sustainability of the products they are involved with.

This video from the University of Bergen examines european consumers perceptions and knowledge of the fish and shrimp they buy, the decisions they make in buying, and then ending in how they cook and consume and how fish fits into their and their childrens daily/weekly diets.

We would welcome any comments or feedback from this video or the project as a whole Please contact Matthias Kaiser matthias.kaiser@svt.uib.no (Univ of Bergen Norway) or David Little dcl1@stir.ac.uk (Inst of Aquaculture Univ of Stirling UK)