Influences of Environmental and Climate Indicators on Aquaculture Production in Coastal Provinces, Vietnam

Aquaculture plays an important role in Vietnam's economic development. The fisheries sector has contributed to the country's agricultural, forestry, and fishery export turnover. Aquaculture producers’ income has significantly improved. However, Vietnam’s aquaculture industry still faces many challenges. Climate change has been considered a significant reason that threat to coastal aquaculture in Vietnam. Rising sea levels, changes in precipitation patterns, rising ambient temperatures, and increased frequency of extreme weather events directly impact the productivity and sustainability of aquaculture systems. The panel data, which were collected from eight provinces in the eight coastal provinces from 2014 to 2023, were employed. A fixed-effects model was applied to determine relationships between climate variables (temperature, rainfall, humidity, sea level rise, and sunshine hours) and environmental factors (dissolved oxygen, lead contamination, and ammonia) with aquaculture output. The results showed that factors such as dissolved oxygen, lead contamination, production area, humidity, and sea water level reveal strong relationships with aquaculture production at a statistically significant level. Meanwhile, the factors such as ammonia, rainfall, sunshine hours, and temperature did not have statistically significant correlations with aquaculture production. The findings highlighted the need for policymakers and other stakeholders to address climate resilience issues in planning, investment, and technological transformation for aquaculture development.