Dozens of thousands of farmers and fishermen in nine central coastal provinces have benefited from the Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development (CRSD) Project funded by the World Bank (WB) in the past years. The project, which began in 2012, includes four components: strengthening institutional capability for sustainable fishing management, practicing sustainable fish farming, sustainably managing coastal seafood exploitation and project management. Until now, the project has supported the establishment of 50 GAP zones over an area of 11,000 hectares with the participation of nearly 8,700 households, 32 areas of farming various species with 2,500 households. The project has also provided training for 19,708 farmers and supported the establishment of 97 co-management teams in eight central provinces involving 13,812 fishermen. They manage 803 kilometers of seashore. Binh Dinh and Phu Yen provinces have approved coastal areas managed by local communities with an area of nearly 83,000 hectares. Besides, 20 fishing ports have been upgraded, with six already completed and put into use. At a conference held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province on March 13 to implement the project’s 2017 plan, Le Van Hien, head of the Management Board of Agricultural Projects under the ministry, stressed that the project has contributed to the sustainable development of the seafood sector in targeted localities. However, many components of the project have not yet been done or implemented slowly, leading to the slow disbursement, which is only 53.7% or nearly VND1.145 trillion ($51.3 million). The remaining VND 990 billion ($44.4 million) needs to be disbursed as the project will finish in one year. Hien recommended beneficiary localities focus on updating Vietnam’s fishing sector data, implementing policy studies and upgrading infrastructure for GAP zones. Pham Ngoc Sao, Director of the CRSD Project, suggested the Directorate of Fisheries soon support the project in building a united management mechanism to manage and use fishing ports effectively. (VietnamPlus Mar 13)
