Two households in Da Nang are raising eels in recirculating aquaculture systems, a method that treats and reuses tank water, Báo Đà Nẵng reported on October 27. The city's Agricultural Extension Center supplied 750 eel fry and feed to each family, 1,500 in all, under a scheme in which it covers 40 percent of the cost.
Nguyễn Can, of Đại Quang hamlet in Hà Nha commune, farms on about 250 square metres of garden land divided into ten tanks of 25 square metres each. Seven are in use, holding about 5,000 eels of mixed sizes. After three years he says results are better than with traditional ponds.
Over an 18 to 24 month cycle the eels reach 1.2 to 1.5 kilograms or more, and a tank yields about 300 kilograms on average, he said. At 500,000 to 600,000 dong a kilo, he estimated profit at more than 80 million dong a tank. Phan Thị Lai, of Đại Hiệp Đông hamlet in Đại Lộc commune, switched from raising cattle, pigs and goats and called eels a difficult species.
The paper noted the drawbacks: long grow-out periods, heavy capital needs and systems that demand careful oxygen and water-quality control, where a small equipment fault can quickly harm the stock. Ngô Thị Thu Vân, deputy director of the extension center, said staff will keep giving on-site guidance and plan study visits for farmers from other communes. The longer-term aim is concentrated high-tech aquaculture zones.
Sources
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