SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

State of the Basin Report - 2003Total freshwater aquaculture production inthe LMB has risen from 60,000 tonnes in1990 to 255,000 tonnes per annum in 2001.This is worth an estimated $244.6 million. 131See Table 6, in which marine prawnaquaculture in the Mekong Delta isexcluded. The Mekong Delta of Viet Namand Northeast Thailand, in that order, arethe most important producers of culturedfish in the LMB. In these areas betterinfrastructure facilitates easier access toinputs and markets than in the more remoterural areas of Cambodia and Lao PDR. Atleast two million rural households in theLMB are culturing fish. In Northeast Thailand, for example, more than 6 percent of the 2.6 millionrural households are involved in small-scale aquaculture, while in Viet Nam the proportion is 60-70percent. 132Small-scale aquaculture contributes to food supplyin areas where wild fish are not available and inseasons when wild fish are in short supply. It providesopportunities for flexible supplementary income andhelps families diversify from fishing and rice farmingactivities.Extension services are crucial for successfuldevelopment of aquacultureAquaculture appears to have particularly goodpotential where there is food insecurity and in areaswhere wild fish stocks are insufficient to meetdemand. There are a number of important factorsinfluencing development, including infrastructure,access to markets, supply of inputs, access toextension and other support services, and availabilityof fish seed. In Lao PDR, for example, economicfactors are a major constraint and include a poorlydeveloped market economy outside major towns andlimited access to long-term credit. 1333.1.1 Viet NamHarvesting a village pondViet Nam has the largest aquaculture area in the basin, covering 330,000 hectares. Freshwateraquaculture production in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam in 1999 was 171,570 tonnes. Productionis high, with a mean annual pond production of 4.8 tonnes per ha. Over 100 hatcheries in the deltaof Viet Nam produced an estimated 1,615 million fry and 595 million fingerlings in 1999. 134 Themost commonly-cultured fish species are river catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), silver barb(Barbonymus gonionotus)¸ common carp (Cyprinus carpio), tilapia (Oreochromis spp.), giantgourami (Osphronemus goramy), sand goby (Oxyeleotris marmorata), hybrid catfish (Clariasgariepinus ´ C. macrocephalus), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), Indian carps, andsnakehead (Channa striata). Polyculture of mixed species is the norm, and pond production isgenerally integrated under the ‘VAC’ system, an acronym from the Vietnamese words for ‘livestock’,‘pond’ and ‘vegetables’. 135120