In the Co To special zone of Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam, on the afternoon of June 30, 2026, an intensive marine aquaculture project using a sea area of about 209.8 ha got underway. It is run by Muc Nhay Bien Dong (Cong ty CP Muc nhay Bien Dong). The investment is roughly VND 6.7 billion, equivalent to about 400 million yen (at roughly 1 yen to 165 dong). What is notable is not the size of the figure but the fact that "squid" is set as the target species. Squid is a seafood that worldwide depends almost entirely on wild catch, and a project attempting to farm it at commercial scale is not a matter of indifference to Japanese seafood buyers and processors either. Vietnam was Japan's fourth-largest supplier of seafood imports as of 2024 (about 6.9%), and this reads, from a practical standpoint, what is about to happen off its northern coast.
The full picture of the offshore aquaculture launched at Co To
According to a local agriculture-and-environment paper, a "ceremony announcing the sea-area allocation decision and launching the project" was held in the Co To special zone on June 30. The allocated sea area is about 209.8 ha. The operating period runs until December 31, 2050, a long-term plan spanning roughly a quarter of a century. Local reports also describe a target of full operation in 2027.
The farming targets are not narrowed to a single species but combine several kinds of fish, shellfish, and seaweed. The range is broad: squid (species corresponding to pencil squid, cuttlefish, and bigfin reef squid), marine fish such as snapper relatives, grouper, and cobia, bivalves and gastropods, sea cucumber, and seaweed (Kappaphycus). The annual production target is said to exceed 839 tonnes. A multi-trophic design philosophy, growing fish, shellfish, echinoderms, and seaweed in layers within one sea area, can be glimpsed.
Why "squid farming" is news
From shrimp and catfish to, more recently, even tilapia, Vietnam's aquaculture has broadened its lineup. Yet squid alone is a different matter. Squid have short lifespans, are prone to cannibalism, and are hard to handle alive, so even worldwide there are few successful examples of commercial farming. Most squid on the market is wild-caught, and its price has been swayed by stock fluctuations and fuel costs.
Muc Nhay Bien Dong is a company that has already worked on semi-natural squid farming in Khanh Hoa Province in the south. According to local reports, the company operates pens of about 13,000 square meters and a farming volume of more than 151,000 cubic meters along the Khanh Hoa coast, building one of Southeast Asia's largest semi-natural squid farming areas. In other words, this Co To project is positioned as a "proven challenge" that brings farming know-how built up in the south out to the offshore waters of the north. If a species reliant on wild catch can be grown in a managed environment, the predictability of supply could change.
How to read the facility configuration and the figures
The figures for the pen configuration vary across reporting sources. The originating report, which lays out the overall project plan, cites 43 circular HDPE pens for fish and squid, 160 square pens for mollusks and seaweed, 20 square pens for marine fish, and 20 nursery pens for juvenile fish and squid. A separate specialized aquaculture outlet, meanwhile, reports an initial configuration of 20 circular HDPE pens 23 m in diameter and 20 square pens of 6 by 6 m, suggesting the figures differ between the first stage at groundbreaking and the final form. What they share is an offshore design using advanced-material floats that withstand large waves and strong winds, equipped with a management building, floating power-generation facilities, and connecting bridges.
| Item | Figure (based on the originating report) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sea area | About 209.8 ha | The Hon Gan waters of the Co To special zone |
| Investment | About VND 6.7 billion (about 400 million yen) | At roughly 1 yen to 165 dong |
| Annual production target | More than 839 tonnes | Total of fish, shellfish, squid, and seaweed |
| Operating period | Until the end of 2050 | About 25 years |
| Employment | About 100 people | For local workers |
The amount deserves attention. The investment is, after all, "about VND 6.7 billion, or about 400 million yen," a modest level compared with large plant projects. Rather than a flashy, huge investment, it is closer to reality to see it as a project at the stage where a company with existing know-how secures a foothold in new waters.
How locals and the industry view this move
Locally, voices rating this project as "a break from small-scale gathering" and "a turning point lifting the northern coastal economy to an industrial type" stand out. Showing fishers who have depended on wild gathering the option of managed farming is what draws support.
The administration is putting forward that it built environmental assessment and ecosystem protection in from the pre-investment stage, and that it designed a profit-sharing model with local residents. The projected 100 stable jobs is also looked to as livelihood-building for the island.
On the other hand, there are cautious views from the field. Commercial squid farming is difficult even worldwide, and whether a stable supply of fry can be secured and whether husbandry will proceed as planned is unknown, the point goes. The 839-tonne production target, too, is after all a planned figure, and needs to be discounted as such.
Implications for Japanese importers and seafood players
Seen from a Japanese procurement standpoint, the significance of this project is two-tiered. First, in the short term, a scale of 839 tonnes is not a volume that moves the Japanese market. Procurement unit prices will not shift right away. What takes effect is the medium-term "quality of supply." If squid that relied on wild catch can be taken by managed farming, variation in size and arrival timing shrinks, making planned procurement for processing easier. For buyers handling frozen and processed squid, being able to trace a production area's output history becomes a factor in raw-material selection.
For Vietnamese seafood, residual veterinary drugs and mycotoxins in farmed shrimp and processed goods have been flagged as monitoring priorities. If farmed squid comes out for the Japanese market going forward, confirming the farming environment and medication-management regime at an early stage leads to avoiding trouble later. The phase in which a production area shifts to industrial farming is precisely the good chance to size up the state of traceability.
Vietnam's seafood is also showing a clear shift toward neighboring markets such as China, rather than leaning solely on Japan. A supply structure in which a China shift advances for shrimp and white fish Given this, a new farming base growing up in the north also carries meaning for Japan in securing a stable source of procurement.
The context of the industrialization of Vietnamese marine aquaculture
The Co To project is not a one-off story. Across Vietnam, a transition from wild gathering and small-scale farming to "managed industrial farming" is advancing simultaneously. In the shrimp field, producers tackling advanced multi-stage farming have emerged, as in the case of three-stage shrimp farming growing its sales scale on the Thanh Hoa coast where moves to change the profit structure through technology are spreading. In Quang Ninh Province in the north too, a producer who achieved year-round shrimp farming such moves have emerged, and a shift toward supply unbound by the seasons is advancing. Industrial squid farming is positioned as the "next move" on that same extension line.
As industrialization advances, more production areas will step into vertical integration that includes not just raw-material supply but processing and branding. For Japanese importers, this means a shift to an era of choosing a source not by price alone but by "which production area has put a management regime in place."
Points to keep in mind in practice
Practitioners tracking this project will want to keep checking the following. First, whether the timing of full operation (the 2027 target in local reports) proceeds as planned. Second, whether a stable supply of squid fry can be secured — this is the dividing line of commercial farming's success or failure. Third, the state of hygiene and medication management and production-history records, if exports to Japan come into view. Quang Ninh Province in the north is also a region where tourism resources such as Ha Long Bay are concentrated, so if it can position itself as low-environmental-load farming, it will be easier to differentiate on the branding side too.
Conclusion: what to watch as the next move
Co To's roughly VND 6.7 billion, 209.8-ha marine aquaculture carries meaning less in the size of the amount than in the direction of "putting squid, reliant on wild catch, onto industrial farming." It is not a matter for Japanese seafood buyers to act on immediately, but over the medium term it is a project that could change supply stability and traceability. As concrete next actions, three are realistic: (1) look into Muc Nhay Bien Dong's track record and quality-management regime in Khanh Hoa in the south; (2) check with existing partners in frozen and processed squid about the outlook for northern Vietnamese product; and (3) keep watching Quang Ninh Province's farming cluster alongside the moves of other production areas (shrimp, seaweed) shifting to industrial farming. We will want to grasp early, as information, the possibility that farming adds an option to the procurement of squid, which has long been tossed about by fluctuations in wild resources.
Sources
- Nông nghiệp Môi trường「Từ Cô Tô khởi đầu tư duy mới về kinh tế nuôi biển Quảng Ninh」
- Tạp chí Thủy sản Việt Nam「Cô Tô có thêm dự án nuôi biển công nghệ cao rộng gần 210 ha」
- Đại Đoàn Kết「Quảng Ninh: Chấp thuận chủ trương đầu tư dự án nuôi biển 839 tấn/năm ở Cô Tô」
- JETRO, "Japan's 2024 agriculture, forestry, fishery, and food import results"
