Current Status of Preservation and Management of Fisheries Product Quality on Offshore Fishing Vessels in some Central Provinces of Vietnam

Abstract

Results of a survey on 375 offshore fishing vessels showed that a vessel commonly had from 7 to 12 holds, of which 4-6 holds were used for preserving caught fish. Most of these holds had insulating walls which were composed of layers of styrofoam, and the surfaces in contact with fishery
materials was made of wood. The fishing vessels mainly used small ground ice for the storage. Result of testing fishery samples collected from the fishing vessels and middlemen showed that no urea and borax were found. The rate of nitrifurans contamination was 30.8% and 15.0% for the samples taken from middlemen and fishing vessels, respectively. There was a significant difference in the count of aerobic microbes (TPC) between the vessel samples (3,1 x 105 CFU/g) the middlemen samples (4,9 x 105 CFU/g) (P<0.05). The percentage of the vessels which were checked for food safety was low, averaging only 17.9%. The number of the vessels passing the food safety inspection at the first check was about 50%, the
remain had some common problems such as: crew members without priodical health check-up, lack of fishing diary, inadequacy of food safety records, shortage of fresh water to clean the boat and other instruments.