New US Quarantine Threatens Vietnammâs Tropical Fish Exports
Vietnamese ornamental fish exports to the US could be running upon the rocks as quarantine regulations have been tightened stateside from September 29, according to the HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The department on September 27 released new regulations set by the US Agriculture Department on tropical fish imports, which requires quarantine certificates for about ten kinds of fish.
Accordingly, the new regulations say before exporting fish, the country must ensure its consignments are free of Spring viraemia, an infectious viral disease found in carp fish.
The new regulations are difficult for Vietnamese tropical fish export businesses as the domestic quarantine offices do not have facilities to perform the virus checks or issues certificates in accordance with the US requirements.
Dang Ai Viet, head of the Ho Chi Minh City quality management and aquatic resources exploitation and protection directorate said at present laboratories in the city lack equipment to test this virus.
Nguyen Van Lang, Head of the municipal Tropical Fish Association, said last year when the EU announced the application of the regulations, Vietnam could not export the fish to that market.
Thus, tropical fish entrepreneurs growing them for ornamental purposes have proposed the Vietnam’s Ministry of Fisheries to find solutions.
The EU and US markets make up about 90 per cent of the city’s export turnover, said the department, adding that earnings from ornamental fish exports reached $5 million last year.
The city has recently added ornamental fish to its export staples with an expected export revenue of $50 million by 2010.
Young People
Vietnamese
