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Manual on fish hygienic practices for fishing boats and fish landing sites in small-scale fisheries

Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia.








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    Manual on fish hygienic practices for fishing boats and fish landing sites in small-scale fisheries. 2012
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    This document is an English translation of the approved Khmer manual on aquatic product hygiene practices for fishing boats, fish landing sites and along the aquatic product value chain in small-scale fisheries in Cambodia.
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    Book (series)
    Present and future markets for fish and fish products from small-scale fisheries - Case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America. (Available online only) 2008
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    At the twenty-sixth session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, FAO was requested to identify how trade in fish and fish products could further benefit small-scale fisheries and generate additional income and employment within the sector. Following this request, case studies were carried out in selected Latin American, African and Asian countries to study the importance of small-scale fisheries trade and identify opportunities for better integration into regional and international fish trade. The findings and recommendations of the case studies were presented and discussed at the tenth session of the FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade, held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, from 30 May to 2 June 2006. In the countries studied, the contribution of the small-scale fisheries sector to the total marine catch was significant and ranged from 70 to 95 percent. The studies show that products from small-scale fisheries are largely focused on the domestic market. In Africa regional trade in small-scale fisheries products was found to be very important for meeting the protein requirements of poor people. Women are actively involved in fish processing and marketing and also participate in capture fisheries in coastal areas and estuaries as well as in other forms of harvesting of aquatic organisms. Their involvement results in increased well-being of their households since womens income is largely spent on food and childrens education. Study findings suggest that women can gain from increasing trade opportunities through their involvement in value adding activities and enterprises. The studies identified several avenues for better integration of small-scale fisheries into regional and international fish trade. Among them are product diversification, value addition, improvement of product quality and the access to new markets. However, a number of constraints need to be overcome before this can be achieved. Post-harvest losses due to poor infrastructure and lack of sto rage and transportation facilities need to be reduced and knowledge of proper fish handling methods needs to be improved. While products for export are meeting high quality standards, products for domestic and regional markets are often processed using substandard hygienic methods. Small-scale fisheries are also excluded from international markets because of the costs and difficulties encountered when trying to comply with international standards and those imposed by supermarket chains and other customers. The studies suggest that efforts should be aimed at improving facilities for preserving fish onboard, at the establishment of hygienic fish landing sites, increasing storage facilities and the supply of ice as well as improving roads, which connect fishing communities to markets. Equally important are the improvement of technical support and extension services to enable fishing communities to access appropriate technologies and information and training on quality improvement, p roper fish handling procedures and storage, product diversification, value addition as well as on packaging. Fishing communities should also be assisted in assessing their fisheries and aquatic resources and identifying those that have potential for trade in the domestic, regional and international markets. Small-scale fishers and processors can get better prices for their products by shortening the fish supply chain and increasing their bargaining and lobbying power. In this regard, the fo rmation of marketing cooperatives should be encouraged and existing associations of small-scale fishers and processors should be strengthened by providing support for institution building. There is also a need to raise awareness among microfinance institutions regarding the needs of the small-scale fisheries sector for credit and savings services.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Current fisheries and aquaculture policies relevant to RFLP in Viet Nam
    Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia. (GCP/RAS/237/SPA)
    2010
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    The Fisheries sector is significant contribution to the economy of Vietnam, the export value in 2008 was US$ 4.509 billion. The fisheries and aquaculture sectors have expanded rapidly over the past decade, with aquaculture production rising from 1,202,500 to 2,430,944 tonnes over the period from 2004 to 2008, with more than 1.3 million MT tons of Pangasius and 450,000 MT of brackish and freshwater shrimp and prawn. Fisheries production in 2008 was about 2,134 thousand tons, of which marine captu re contributed 1,937 thousand tons. The natural resources, particularly inshore fisheries are considered to be over-exploited with many high valued fish resources having declined to low levels. The number of vessels has increased continuously without control since 1980. This leads to increased competition in inshore areas. In order to earn a living, fishermen use many destructive fishing gears and bad practices including smaller mesh sizes than required, other destructive fishing methods like el ectricity, poisons, dynamite. As a result, fish of all sizes are captured, including young and fingerling fish. In recent years, the Government of Vietnam has enacted many policies to support the aim of sustainable development, and poverty reduction while protecting natural resources. To reduce fishing pressure in coastal areas, many programs have been promoted by the Government including offshore fisheries, aquaculture development, services on sea development and infrastructure development. The offshore fishing vessels under Government’s offshore fishing program are supported by a credit scheme for boat construction, upgrading of fishing vessels and offshore fishing services. Considered one of the major alternative activities to diversify income for coastal communities, the aquaculture sector has received increasingly strong support under Government of Vietnam policy over the past 20 years. The main focus has been on the establishment of infrastructure for aquaculture development, and to convert saline paddy fields, low lying land, land used for salt production, flooded land and other unproductive land to aquaculture. In addition Government policy has supported fishers and farmers in isolated areas through credit schemes. Micro-finance is conducted through the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD), the Commercial Investment Bank (CIB) and the Bank for Social Policy (BSP). BSP mainly provides subsidized loans to poor households, while VBARD and CIB make l arge loans to enterprises. These policies have supported fishermen investing in pond construction, buying of equipment, seed, feeds and other items. To protect natural resources and bio-diversity the following activities have been implemented: Fishing licensing, control of productivity in specific marine areas, protection of rare and precious species that are in danger of extinction, restocking to enhance breeding population size and density, protection of aquatic habitats, and rehabilitation an d protection of fisheries resources etc. Co-management is considered as a potential tool for sustainable utilization of fisheries resources in Vietnam, particularly for small-scale fisheries. In Vietnam, co-management has recently been included in many policy instruments and pilots are in operation in Vietnam with varying degrees of success. Vietnam has set up and is continuously improving the law, regulations and standards on conditions for food safety, environment and animal health protection , which meets most of the provisions, articles for technical barriers to trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures on food quality and safety of fish and fishery products, from aquaculture to processing and trading of fish and fishery products. The assurance of food safety needs requires the use of a systematic approach from raw material production, handling, processing, preservation and distribution of fish and fishery product to the customers. Over last 20 years, the Vietnam g overnment has enacted many policies to improve safety and reduce vulnerability for fishing communities such as policies on improving safety for fishermen and fishing boats at sea, support of radio communication devices for owner of fishing boats, support to fishermen to overcome natural risks at sea, support to protecting and reduce the affects of natural calamities at sea, insurance support for vessels and fishers, establish anchorages and storm shelters, and establishment of information networ ks on sea and islands, etc.

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