Deputy Minister Luong Le Phuong made the request in response to a recent boom in investment in “tra” and “basa” farms and expanding processing facilities in the region.

The deputy minister asked localities to stop the expansion of fish breeding centres and the halt of licenses for catfish processing projects.

Recently, the catfish raising acreage in nine Mekong Delta provinces of Viet Nam expanded to more than 3,600 ha, with annual output of between 50-80 tonnes per ha.

According to the ministry, in the first half of this year, the country produced 400,000 tonnes of tra and basa, a 100 percent increase over the same period last year.

In the first ten months of this year, Viet Nam fetched over 3 billion USD from seafood exports, fulfilling 85 percent of the yearly target and representing a year-on-year increase of 10.8 percent, said the ministry.