The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation has launched a study into the fish farming and ocean fishing industries aimed at identifying producers and regions who stand to benefit most from financial and technical assistance.
U Hla Kyaw, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation, said officials have spread out across Myanmar for the survey, but are mainly focussing on the Rakhine, Tanintharyi and Ayeyarwaddy regions, which produce the majority of the country’s fish.
Surveyors are gathering data on fish species, sizes and weight, as well as looking at the quantities caught or farmed in certain regions and, for farms, observing how what techniques producers use to encourage fish to reproduce.
“The fisheries department will use the data and compare it to previous years to see what kind of results we’ve been getting, and we’ll continue to do that in the future,” U hla Kyaw said.
The government has been collected similar data since the fisheries department was first formed but has stepped up its activities since economic reforms began, encouraging a number of foreign development agencies to approach ministries offering assistance.
The data will be used to inform policy decisions on where to direct money and technical assistance in order to make Myanmar’s fish producers more productive and competitive, said U Hla Htun, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary.
For offshore fishing, the authorities say they are hoping to use the data they collect to determine upper limits on catches in order to keep fishing levels sustainable.
They also say they are attempting to limit illegal fishing by cooperating with authorities in neighbouring Thailand and to control the use of trawlers.
Source: Myanmar Business Today