Tra fish regain their sterling reputation

photo source:vietfish.org

A source from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Vietnam told VIR today that the tra fish was in late January, 2011 removed from the red list and officially re-listed in WWF’s yellow list, which encouraged consumers use tra fish as a quite safe dish.

“I am happy to report that Vietnamese pangasius is off the red list on all of the European WWF seafood guides,” said WWF global seafood coordinator Mark Powell in a statement sent to WWF Vietnam.

In 2010’s mid-December, WWF, which is the world’s leading conservation organisation operating in 100 countries, committed to officially removed Vietnam’s tra fish from the red list, which contains the names of products that conscientious consumers should shun.

Before that, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam Association for Seafood Exporters and Processors, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially requested WWF to ask its branches in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway and Denmark to withdraw their misleading assessments of made-in-Vietnam tra fish and immediately correct their shortcomings in the 2010-2011 Seafood Guides for consumers in their countries.

Previously, these branches had blacklisted Vietnam’s tra fish in the red list of WWF's 2010-2011 Seafood Guides in their countries. The fish used to be in the yellow list, in which the WWF recommends consumers purchase yellow-listed items only as alternatives to species on the green list, in which products deem good for the environment.

General Directorate of Fisheries’ deputy head Pham Anh Tuan said that Vietnam was willing to provide all necessary information and evidence for not only WWF, but also all organisations and enterprises globally, to examine how modernly its tra fish was farmed and processed.

Vietnam is supplying over 95 per cent of tra fish products to the world’s market. The fish is farmed in a quite clean environment, with high quality and nutrition and cheap prices preferred by European consumers.

To protect the tra fish industry, many fish farming areas in Vietnam have met the US Food Marketing Association’s SQF 1000CM management standards and Global GAP.

The standards aim to reassure tra fish consumers that the industry has a minimal detrimental environmental impact, limited use of chemicals and ensures worker health and safety and animal welfare.

In 2010’s first 10 months, the country shipped 538,200 tonnes of the fish products, worth $1.15 billion, to 124 countries and territories worldwide, including choosy markets like the European Union, Australia, the US and Japan.