Over 7.6 tonnes of fish fry of various kinds and 180,500 breeding fish of indigenous species were released into Vam Nao river, part of Hau river, in Cho Moi district, the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on August 24. 

Nguyen Thanh Binh, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Fisheries Preservation and Development, said the activity aims to protect and preserve the diversity of aquatic species, especially precious ones with high economic value, thus restoring aquatic resources in An Giang and the Mekong Delta. 

It also helps raise public awareness of the importance and value of natural resources and biodiversity, the role and responsibility of the community for aquatic resource protection, towards managing aquatic resources more effectively and ensuring the sustainable development of fishery and aquaculture. 

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Vo Thi Thanh Van said the event has received donations worth a total over 570 million VND (24,700 USD) from local residents and organisations in and outside the province. 

According to her, An Giang tapped nearly 91,000 tonnes of aquatic products in 2000, but the output dropped to 23,000 tonnes in 2015 and 11,258 tonnes in 2017, partly due to the use of electricity and chemicals in fishing which has rapidly degraded natural fisheries resources. 

Since 2012, the department has partnered with authorities of districts, communes and cities to release fish fry into local rivers, mostly Tien, Hau and Bung Binh Thien rivers in An Phu district. As a result, over 100 tonnes of fish fry of different kinds, worth over 4 billion VND, have been released so far.-VNA