Dung, 42, from Lieu Tu commune, Can Tho city, owns a seabass farm with tens of ponds spanning over 40ha, now in the harvest season.

With current stable prices, the farm brings in annual revenue of hundreds of billions of VND. It also supplies thousands of tons of raw fish, exporting this Mekong Delta specialty to various countries.

Dung once hatched shrimp for many years. In 2010, brackish water aquaculture became a trend, with seabass identified as a species well-suited to the region’s saline intrusion. At the same time, shrimp farming suffered heavy losses due to disease, which prompted Dung to pioneer converting 1.5ha of underperforming shrimp ponds to seabass farming.

Initially, he had to learn from others, experimenting to understand the seabass’s adaptability in former shrimp ponds and researching market potential.

“There weren’t clear signs of demand for seabass back then, but I targeted wholesale markets in HCMC as the main outlet,” Dung recalled. In the first year, his ponds yielded about 50 tons of fish.

After gaining experience, he gradually expanded, perfecting a year-round seabass farming process to share with other local farmers.

The real opportunity came when seabass began being exported, increasing demand for raw materials from processing plants. By late 2019, Dung stopped shrimp farming entirely, leasing 40ha to establish an industrial-scale seabass farm.

His facility was built with a modern water recycling system, meeting strict environmental standards. Infrastructure costs alone reached about VND1.5 billion per hectare of water surface.

Dung said that farmers can choose extensive, intensive, or semi-intensive farming. However, the primary focus should be water quality (salinity of 5-15‰ suitable for seabass) and carefully selected fingerlings about 10cm in size.

After over 15 years, Dung’s facility is now one of the largest seabass farms in the Mekong Delta. He has a team of 10 engineers to oversee farming areas, guide techniques, and purchase quality products from local farmers.

He also collaborates with processing plants to export seabass fillets to Thailand, the US, Canada, the Middle East, and more, with an output exceeding 1,000 tons annually. About 2,000 tons are consumed domestically, mainly in HCMC, Can Tho city, and Tien Giang.

After years of price declines, seabass prices are now at a high. Processing plants pay about VND90,000/kg (at the pond), while domestic markets offer VND95,000-100,000/kg for fish over 1kg.

However, the market has faced fluctuations, with prices once dropping to VND20,000/kg.

Dung pointed out that aquaculture is a fiercely competitive industry, not suited for short-term gains. Long-term success requires persistence, knowledge, and strong collaboration between farmers, processing plants and export businesses.

Tran Tuyen