Finnish Rainbow Trout’s Grow Faster In Vietnam

Finnish
experts said rainbow trout’s at farms in Sa Pa grow even faster than those raised in Finland. However,
Lam Dong is not only the only place in the country to raise the fish. It was
the mountain resort town of Sapa in the northern province of Lai Chau that provided the first
home in Vietnam
to the imported fish. Under a 100,000 EUR project funded by the Finish
Government, the Fisheries Innovation Centre of Finland (FIC) and the
Aquaculture Institute 1 of Vietnam brought trout eggs to Sapa, where the
climate suits the needs of the cold water fish.
    Only
arriving in the province in April 2006, rainbow trout’s raised at farms in K’
Long K’ Lanh Highland appeared on the table of restaurants in the resort city
of Da Lat and Ho Chi Minh City by the end of that year. Local farms have
difficulties filling orders from not only eateries but tourists as well.
    Chief Cook
Jurgen Kauz of Hanoi’s
Melia Hotel, which buys 450 kg of rainbow trout’s a month, said that the
quality and meat colour of Sa Pa-raised fish is as good as imported fish.
    So far, Sa Pa is the only place
in Vietnam
where rainbow trout eggs can be hatched. Fish fries are then transferred to Lam
Dong farms for raising.
    Several
businesses in Lam Dong and Ho Chi Minh
City are planning to invest in the fish, including the
Ha Quang company with an 8 billion VND project and the military company 7.5
with a 44 billion VND scheme. Lam Dong
has zoned off about 50ha of water surface for raising the cold water fish by
2010, in the hope of winning a great share of the domestic rainbow trout market
which currently imports 1,500 tonnes of the products a year.
    However,
there remain remarkable difficulties as farmers have to depend on imported egg
supply and fish feeds. In addition, the raising of rainbow trout’s requires
strict technical conditions and major start-up investment which is out of reach
for most local farmers.