Received: 04-05-2022 / Accepted: 27-09-2022
An assessment of the status of exploitation, consumption and culure of black apple snail (Pila polita) in the Mekong Delta. The study was carried out from April to October 2019 using the questionnaire to survey the total of 138 cases including managers, snail farming householdes, snail exploiting householdes and snail purchasing householdes. The results showed that the snail distribution in the stagnant water was higher than in the flow through water and the rice field. Black apple snails stayed at the surface waters in the evening and morning at a depth of 60-150cm. The snail density and production gradually have decreased over last decade, especially from 2015 to the present. The fishing season was the rainy season from May to October with the average yield of 9.54 kg/household/day (equivalent to 1,717 kg/household/year). Harvested snails were mainly sold to small-scale retail dealers (70.8%), followed by local consumers (20.0%), and lowest proportion to large-scale retail dealers (9.2%). The average area of snail farming was 294.5m2per household with the survival rate of 66.0% and harvest size at 28 ind./kg, and the productivity of cultured snails is 1.40 kg/m2.