BIOECONOMICS OF RESERVOIR AQUACULTURE IN VIETNAM

Reservoir aquaculture has developed in an ad hoc manner in Vietnam to date. A bioeconomic model of reservoir aquaculture in northern Vietnam is presented in this paper to highlight issues of developmental importance of reservoir aquaculture in Vietnam. The biological model is based on a conventional von Bertalanffy growth function and the economic model is a net revenue function. The greatest source of costs for the operation are restocking costs (75%) and contract labor costs (18 percent). Benchmark net revenue is approximately 8.7 million VND (approximately US$539). The stocking density, length of time between stocking and harvest and harvesting efficiency have the largest impact on net revenue. The inclusion of aquaculture into government fisheries development plans with research focused on development of fingerling production, preparation of flooded land for aquaculture production and strengthening institutional arrangements for reservoir leasing and credit arrangements, is likely to lead to increased capitalization and investment, and therefore greater revenues for local fishing populations.