US to help Myanmar with fish farming

The United States will provide technical assistance to Myanmar to help the country farm fresh water Tilapia fish, local press reported Sunday. As part of the efforts to promote Tilapia fish farming, a U.S. team comprising experts would give advice and farming technique to Myanmar to enable it to export high quality fish and fish products, the New Light of Myanmar quoted Myanmar Fisheries Federation as saying. The U.S. team would also help Myanmar ensure organic fish farming, it added. Currently, Myanmar exports over 120 items of fishery products. Myanmar has over 100 marine product factories but only some of them can produce quality products. According to the report, in the 2012-13 fiscal year which ended in March, Myanmar exported over 37,000 tons of marine products. Meanwhile, Myanmar's seafood export is expected to rise this year as the European Union (EU) is implementing a plan to import farmed seafood products from Myanmar following EU's removal of trade sanctions on the country. Buyers from the EU, the United States and other countries are looking to the country to fulfill global short supplies of wild shrimp and other farmed species such as Tilapia.