The Vietnam Tuna Association was established on Saturday in a bid to promote exports of the fish, Vietnam’s third-largest seafood export item after shrimp and pangasius.

Based in the coastal town of Nha Trang in central Khanh Hoa Province, the association, known as Vinatuna, will act as a bridge linking fishermen, traders and processors who can support each other.

Vinatuna will also help its members to apply modern technologies to increase the quality and output of tuna and reduce production costs so they can compete against regional and global rivals.

Vietnam, with more than 10,000 tuna fishing boats, is capable of catching more than 200,000 tons of the fish per year.

In the nine months ending September this year, the country exported 58,000 tons of tuna, generating a turnover of around US$208 million, a 73-percent year-on-year increase.