VietNamNet Bridge – Shrimp farmers in the coastal provinces of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta have seen stocks decimated by the worst outbreak of disease in the sector's history.


A local farmer picks up dead prawns at his seafood farm in Vinh Trach Commune in southern Bac Lieu City. An unidentified liver disease has caused losses estimated at US$47.6 million in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta. (Photo: VNS)
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Department, more than 53,000ha of shrimp farms in seven Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces - Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Kien Giang - have seen a huge number of shrimp deaths from an unidentified liver disease, with losses estimated at VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million).


Shrimp deaths in the Mekong Delta account for 98 per cent of all losses from the disease in the country.


However, officials from the department have said losses could be much more than what was reported. The shrimp that died were between 20 and 30 days old.


Soc Trang Province has been the hardest-hit, with more than 19,000 of 25,000 hectares of shrimp farms affected. Following was Bac Lieu with 8,600ha and Tra Vinh, 6,600ha.


Last weekend, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat visited the provinces and chaired an urgent meeting with local authorities to discuss solutions to reduce losses.


Nguyen Trung Hieu, Soc Trang Province's People's Committee, said all of the shrimp bred at the locality's Tran De and Vinh Chau districts died.

According to Nguyen Van Hao of the ministry, the outbreak of the disease began last July.


Hao said the source of the disease could be water-borne.


Minister Cao Duc Phat urged the ministry's Science Department to intensify inspections and ordered provincial governments to create a map identifying the affected areas that should be treated.


The minister said recent solutions carried out in the localities to curb down the epidemic were not strong enough and needed further co-ordination between branches. Plans to help farmers to resume their production should be carried out soon.


Experts said they would work with the Pasteur Institute to determine the causes of the outbreak and that samples would be sent to Arizona, the US, for tests.


Dr Phan Thu Oanh, deputy director of Bac Lieu Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said it was vital to find a way of preventing the epidemic from recurring but that in the meantime, funds need to be raised to help farmers get back on their feet.


Diem Hang, who owns a 50-ha shrimp farm in Soc Trang Province's Vinh Chau District, said her losses from the epidemic amounted to about VND500 million ($23,800).


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News