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Thanks to the brackish coastal water environment and applying advanced techniques, the local people on Cat Ba Island, Cat Hai District in Hai Phong City have successfully developed an industrial shrimp-raising model.
With a clean water environment, appropriate salinity and rarely being affected by sewages from industrial zones as it is located offshore of the mainland, the area of Cat Ba Archipelago has all the necessary conditions for developing aquiculture, particularly raising shrimp using an industrial model.
In 2004, Hai Phong established a project on raising shrimp in an area of about 120ha in Phu Long Commune, Cat Hai District. In 2009, the city gave the area to Son Truong Company Ltd., for investment. Since then, the company has applied advanced science and techniques to building an industrial shrimp-raising model that has brought high economic value. It has also helped open a new economic development trend for Cat Ba Archipelago and contributes to the development of the aquiculture sector in Hai Phong.
After receiving the watery area, the company invested 90 billion VND in building a system of shrimp-raising ponds and upgrading the irrigation system. It also cooperated with Thai Lan Joint-stock Company to experiment in raising shrimp with an advanced technology. In 2010, Son Truong Company built 25 ponds in zone A, yielding approximately 350 tonnes of shrimp/year and earned a profit of 33 billion VND after deducting all expenses.
Seeing the prospect of shrimp raising, in 2011 the company invested in building ponds with a total area of 34ha in zone B for raising shrimp in winter. At present, about 30 ponds reach the yield of 8-9 tonnes of shrimp/pond and there are some reaching the yield of 10 tonnes/pond. It is expected when the company increases to two shrimp-raising crops/year, the yield will increase dramatically.
Ta Van Hung, Vice Director of the Son Truong Company Ltd., said that the company now has 65 ponds for raising shrimp, each covering about 5,000m2. The company has coordinated with Thai Lan Joint-stock Company to invest in advanced technology, water pumps and oxygen concentrators. It also uses canvas to spread over the ponds’ bottom to keep the shrimp warm in winter and to make it easier to clean up after each harvest.
In winter, the company built canvas tents to maintain a suitable temperature for the ponds and built a breeding pond. The company also uses high quality feed provided from Thai Lan Joint-Stock Company and uses automatic feeding machines to increase the quality of the shrimp. Therefore, the shrimp products of the company are much sought after by customers, especially from China.
The development of raising shrimp following the high-tech model on islands offshore the mainland is a promising development direction of Hai Phong that brings into play its strength of potential sea resources.
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