Cobia Rachycentron canadum aquaculture in Vietnam: Recent developments and prospects

The paper presents a review of the recent developments in research and production of cobia in Vietnam in hatching and cage farming, which have made Vietnam the 3rd largest producer of farmed cobia in the world. Conservative estimations for the 2007 production for the Asian-Pacific region exceed 35,000 t, with remaining global production adding an additional 2000 t, while official farm production registered by FAO is considerably lower. Estimated 2008 production in Vietnam was 1500 t, following the major production of PR China and Taiwan Province of China. This review reports on the various aspects of hatchery technology such as broodstock management, intensive and semi-intensive larval rearing, fry transportation as well as small-scale grow-out in wooden raft cages and large-scale in Norwegian style circular HDPE cages. Some of the prospects for accelerating future development of this species in aquaculture and challenges to be solved are also identified.