In recent years, aquaculture has prospered in the central region of Vietnam. But lately, it has been facing problems in the business, including a shortage of baby shrimps for breeding and polluted groundwater caused by inadequate waste treatment and disease outbreaks from contaminated, unquarantined shrimp. To counter these problems, farmers adapted modern techniques and raised different kinds of aquatic species. As a result, their profits even soared and the sector itself continues to grow. For instance, Central Thua Thien in ${bigcity_Hue:"Hue"} Province increased its aquaculture area from 5,402 ha. in 2006 to 5,800 in 2010. Farmers have expanded their production to include black-tiger shrimp, white-leg shrimp, crab, sweet nails, bivalve mollusks, marine fish and water fish.
 
In Huong Tra District, farmers are being supported by the Consultative and Research Centre on Natural Resources Management on a pilot production of black-tiger shrimp, crab and mullet fish. Farmers’ incomes have increased dramatically as well as the areas of production. Phu Yen Province in particular enjoyed a substantial increase in its aquaculture farming business.
 
But despite the apparent boom in the sector, problems continue to arise such as shortage of shrimp fries which provided only 10-20%  of the demand in the province. The number of shrimp-breeding centers decreased significantly from 29 in 2005 to just 12 in 2009. Factors such as weather, competition in the south, imbalance between the rise of aquaculture and proper zoning and environmental pollution leading to disease outbreaks are seen as the primary causes.
 
The provinces of Thua Thien and Quang Nam were the victims of such challenges. Province officials are now planning and taking specific steps to counter such problems and target sustainable production. Among these are putting up new aquatic-breeding centers and upgrading existing ones. Thua Thien Province has its own set of measures, including improving the capacity of aquatic officials and veterinary forces, building systems to check disease outbreaks and water pollution, and planting of mangrove trees to hasten breeding. Quang Nam Province on the other hand plans to set up 10 disease-free shrimp farming zones 30 hectares big at the end of 2011. It has been motivating its farmers to invest in tra catfish cultivation and breed more freshwater fish species. By 2015, more than half of the aquaculture areas in the province are expected to utilize national standards of food safety and hygiene.
 
Ngo Tan, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Nam Province, added that his department will be coordinating with other agencies to improve the quality of aquatic produce and inspect aquatic-breeding centers and animal-feed producers. Moreover, the department is encouraging investors from all economic sectors to invest in aquaculture business.