The WWF has come up with recommendations on fields of its concern which have won the applause of the international community for years. However, the organisation’s decision to place Vietnam’s Tra fish on the Red List of its 2010 seafood consumption report, in which consumers in the world were advised to choose other seafood products instead of Vietnam’s Tra fish, was questionable.

Deputy Director of the Directorate of Fisheries Pham Anh Tuan said, “The WWF’s information is insufficient as the fund used one sided and incorrect standards and scientific bases. This would cause many difficulties for Vietnam’s tra raising industry and would adversely affect global consumer trends,”

Tra fish products are known as a special food of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. Being favored by nature, Vietnamese farmers have developed the Tra fish raising and processing industry for highly valued products. It has been expanded from a small-scale industry to a larger industry with advanced technology, while the breeding areas see a year-on-year increase with thousands of hectares.

Vietnam’s Tra fish products are exported to more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, including demanding markets such as the US and the EU. Over the past few years, the quality of Vietnam’s Tra fish was accepted by international consumers. To penetrate the global market, Vietnamese businesses had to abide by all customer regulations on the transparent production processes, water resources environment, feeds, veterinary medicine, processing, preservative and transport. Many foreign customers themselves have conducted fact-finding tours of Vietnam’s fish breeding areas before they decide on placing orders.

Recently, foreign customers have also set up links between consumers and producers and suppliers. This means that consumers of Vietnam’s Tra fish products directly invest in material processing based on their standards. For example, in early 2009, Binca Seafood Vietnam worked with Ntaco Vietnam to build a 35-ha fish breeding area certified by Global GAP. Mazzetta, the US’s leading frozen seafood importer and distributor worked in collaboration with Proconco, a French-owned animal feeds factory in Vietnam to carry out a project to raise Tra fish in An Giang province with a closed biological safety process, from feed sources to farming areas and processing.

Proconco will study to ensure the quality of fish feeds and help farmers with breeding techniques and processing to meet standards set by the North American market. Meanwhile, Mazzetta will also bring fish products to consumers.

For years, Vietnam’s Tra fish products have been put under strict control by food safety agencies from many different countries and the pressure of laws such as the anti-dumping law and competition law issued by importing countries. If Vietnamese fish products had problems relating to water environment, feed, veterinary medicine, they could not enter demanding markets.

WWF is a global non-governmental organisation working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change. However, the information released by the organisation has made customers getting used to Vietnamese Tra fish products hesitant and adversely affected hundreds of workers, their jobs, incomes and opportunities to escape from poverty.

In the face of the unfavorable condition, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has sent a letter to the head of the WWF to oppose its decision and invite its representatives to visit Vietnam and inspect the tra fish processing, preservative, and export processes. This has provided a good opportunity for the WWF to re-verify its information.