Quang Ngai province: Aquaculture for ecotourism - Potential to be awakened (10-12-2018)
Aquaculture and ecotourism in case of being integrated together not only open new development opportunities for fisheries and tourism, but also help people change production methods to increase income. However, this combination has not been paid full attention to by the professional sector, the authorities and people in the province.
With a long coastline of about 130 km, with a system of dense rivers and lakes, the province's aquaculture sector has many potentials and advantages for development. In addition to the production aspect, the aquaculture areas can also become ecotourism attractions to attract visitors, if it attracts an appropriate investment. The province is considered to have much potential to develop aquaculture models combined with eco-tourism, but not yet getting enough investment in exploitation.
According to Ms. Huynh Thi Phuong Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, this is a new tourism product, promising to bring breakthroughs in the fisheries sector as well as tourism. This direction will also create a premise for developing community-based tourism in rural areas in the province. With 38% of the labor force in the agricultural sector and more than 60% of population living in the countryside, developing community based tourism in rural areas will make use of natural, human and cultural resources to create a variety of tourism products to attract tourists, contribute to build a new sustainable rural economy, culture and environment. In fact, this tourism product is the inheritance and promotion of traditional aquaculture methods of the people, so the implementation does not face many obstacles. However, ecotourism development needs to ensure the following factors: respect for the community and cultural identity; combine economic benefits and social benefits; ensure the quality of products and services provided, as well as authenticity, etc. Therefore, in addition to investment in the construction of aquaculture infrastructure, there is also a serious investment in the supporting services; associating the development of rural tourism infrastructure with climate change response, reducing the impact of natural disasters, protecting the environment. In addition, for developing sustainably this tourism product, professional branches and local authorities need to improve the effectiveness of planning work, ensuring that the areas and cultivated aquatic species are appropriate; and people also have to change production thinking towards clean products, good service.
Deputy Director of the Sub Department of Fisheries Ms. Do Thi Thu Dong informed that nowadays, land resource, water surface area in the province is narrowed, due to the pressure of urbanization process. Therefore, aquaculture for ecotourism is a suitable path to the actual conditions, as well as the customs and production conditions of the people. This product not only creates conditions for people to improve production value and efficiency, improve income, but also opens up new development prospects for the aquaculture industry. The sub- Department of Fisheries is ready to support and guide the process of raising aquatic objects for individuals and organizations, at the same time, to build and transfer aquaculture models with advanced technologies in order to both improve economic efficiency and protect the ecological environment, creating a green, clean and beautiful landscape to meet requirements of tourism service. In order to avoid rampant development, functional branches and local authorities need to make a proper assessment of the potential and advantages of each region and locality; strictly control the production process, ensure food safety and environmental friendly criteria.
Huong Tra (source: baoquangngai.vn)