Fishermen see high yields in north season   Illustrative image (Source: VNA)                                    The fisheries sector recorded major catches of 1.3 million tonnes of fish in the 2014-2015 north season, an annual rise of 2.85 percent, as reported at a conference held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on April 2.  According to the Fisheries Information Centre, Vietnam’s sea area is divided into four main regions: northern, central, southeast, and southwest. Fishing activities are classified as on-shore and off-shore based on the depth of the sea in each region.  There are two main fishing seasons: the south season (from May to October in the north, and July-December in the south); and the north season (from November to April in the north and January-May in the south).  During the 2014-2015 north season, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development directed fisheries units to pioneer a streamlined tuna production value chain to create high-quality fish products.  Following the success of this model, the fisheries sector looks to implement similar methods in other product lines such as shrimp and octopus.  Apart from setting up dozens of community-based fishing associations and on-shore fishing management systems, localities called for more proactive fishermen involvement in the protection and management of fishing grounds.  Local authorities also enacted major policies to boost seafood development such as investment in aquatic-breeding infrastructure; long-term preferential loan credits for rebuilding and upgrading fishing vessels, and low-interest mobile loan credits for seafood exploitation services; and tax and insurance incentives.  In the 2015 south season, the fisheries sector targeted catching 1,327,000 tonnes of fish.  The General Department of Fisheries asked coastal localities to proactively direct farmers in production and help them address difficulties and cope with complicated weather developments.-VNA