Farmers in Binh Dinh Province's Quy Nhon Port handle tuna. The development of a value chain would increase the value of tuna products and improve living standards of fishermen. — VNA/VNS Photo Ly Kha

According to the ministry, this would increase the value of products and improve living standards of fishermen.

Tuna was sold to factories with cold storage facilities at VND73,000 (US$3.42) per kilogramme in the Phu Yen province while tuna processed as Sashimi had been exported to Japan at VND195,000 ($9.15) per kilogramme, conference participants said.

Often, fishermen do not pay attention to investing in processing technology because they can easily sell their tuna by total weight to local buyers without strict regulations related to quality control, health and sanitary guarantees as required in the overseas markets.

Creating a whole chain of fish production is a matter of concern in Viet Nam. It is said that while there are many drawbacks such as planning, exploitation of technology, preservation and marketing in exploiting tuna, one can develop effective and entire chains of tuna production.

"The value chain can't be cut off. It must be managed by MARD and provincial people's committees so that it can operate smoothly," said Vu Dinh Dap, Chairman of Viet Nam Tuna Association.

The country now has more than 3,500 tuna fishing ships with 35,000 labourers.

According to Minister of MARD Cao Duc Phat, in order to benefit from the value chain, Viet Nam has to clarify matters like what kind of ship would be good for catching tuna or what fishing techniques need to be used. And tuna business needs to take fishermen's interests as their core goal.

Minister Phat said that providing fishermen with better equipment and technology would help them improve their living standards.

To produce tuna in the value chain, the development of a modern fishing fleet, combined with a marketing strategy and the construction of logistic fisheries services should be implemented together, added Phat. — VNS