Hanoi, Jan. 28 -- Along the Mekong River, where fish underpin food security and livelihoods, a Lao startup is demonstrating how affordable technology can transform small-scale aquaculture and strengthen a sustainable blue economy.

Founded in 2023, Aquaculture of Lao was created to tackle one of the sector's most persistent risks: sudden changes in water quality that can wipe out an entire production cycle overnight. For many small hatcheries in Laos, outdated infrastructure, limited technical guidance and the lack of early warning systems meant survival rates for fish eggs were often as low as 5%.

The startup has developed low-cost, easy-to-use water quality monitoring tools tailored to small hatcheries. Its solution was selected as one...