Binh Thuan fishermen start the southern fishing season

The southern fish season starts from April to September of the lunar calendar, this is the main seafood exploitation season of the year for fishermen along the coast of Binh Thuan , so most of them hope that this year's fish season will be a bumper one. However, in the last days of May, the atmosphere at the fishing ports in the province seems to be quiet and less bustling due to the influence of the tropical depression.

Hope for a bountiful harvest

These days, at major fishing ports in the province such as Con Cha, Phu Hai (Phan Thiet City), Phan Ri Cua fishing port (Tuy Phong) ... there is less bustle of boats taking turns coming ashore to unload seafood for sale to traders. Perhaps, in recent days, due to the influence of a tropical depression, few boats have gone offshore to exploit seafood. At the end of May, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting warned of a tropical depression with strong winds, which could develop into a storm, so coastal localities were required to strictly manage vehicles going offshore, organize counting, and notify owners of vehicles, captains of ships and boats operating at sea of the location, direction of movement and developments of the tropical depression so that they can proactively avoid it and not move into dangerous areas.

Under the influence of tropical depression, many offshore fishing boats anchored along Ca Ty River.

Arriving at Phu Hai fishing port in the early morning, there were only a few ships transporting food, fuel, and ice to go out to sea. The ship of fisherman Phan Van Chi - Ward 2 - Phu Hai Ward is transporting food to the ship to prepare for the next trip after being on shore for more than a week. Mr. Chi said: "My ship specializes in lead-seine fishing. Since the beginning of the year, I have only been able to go to sea a few times because the seafood output is not much. Each trip I go to sea lasts about 2-3 days and earns about 30 million VND. Each month, my fellow fishermen share about 5-7 million VND, less than last year. Because currently the fuel cost for a trip is quite high, an average of more than 100 million VND/month for expenses. We try to maintain when the weather is favorable, hoping that in the 6th - 7th lunar month, which is the main fishing season of the year, fishermen will have more profit." Fisherman Nguyen Phat Huy - Ward 5 - Phu Hai shared: "In the past few days, the authorities have also announced a low pressure period at sea, so many offshore fishing boats are staying at home, waiting for a few days for more favorable weather before my boat goes out to sea. Last month, most boats went out to sea but the output was not much, mainly mackerel, mullet, anchovy, shad, squid... In June, the fishing ports here will be busier."

Hopefully in the main fishing season, fishermen will have a bumper harvest. Photo: N.Lan

Fishing and combating IUU fishing

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the weather has been relatively favorable for fishing activities in recent times. Schools of anchovies have appeared in fishing grounds around Phu Quy Island, the coastal waters of Mui Ne (Binh Thuan); schools of mackerel have appeared in the area from Ninh Thuan to Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa). The weather conditions in fishing grounds in May were relatively stable, many species of seafood appeared, so most fishing boats had favorable operations, and the output of fishing activities such as squid fishing and trawling was highly effective. The output in the month was more than 19,000 tons, an increase of 2.1% over the same period last year. The cumulative output in the first 5 months of 2024 reached more than 87,000 tons, an increase of 1.7% over the same period last year.

Most fishing vessels are operating smoothly. Photo: N.Lan

To make fishing trips more and more effective, the fisheries sector in the province has encouraged offshore fishing vessel owners to install a post-harvest seafood preservation system using Polyuethane (PU) foam powder, lining fishing vessel holds with stainless steel to reduce loss and sell seafood at a good price. Not only that, the Department of Fisheries and the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center have deployed and many ship owners in the province have boldly applied scientific advances such as hydraulic winches, LED lights, horizontal detectors, radars, and long-range communication devices to improve fishing capacity. In addition, the fisheries sector also recommends that fishermen fish in groups and teams that unite in production at sea, and mother-child ship models to support each other in better seafood exploitation and fishing logistics, reduce costs, and increase labor efficiency.

Exploiting seafood while complying with measures against IUU fishing.

In particular, in addition to encouraging fishermen to go offshore to exploit the southern fish season, Binh Thuan is also focusing on synchronously implementing solutions on fisheries management, focusing on implementing the Central Government's directives and recommendations of the European Commission (EC) on preventing and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It is known that the working group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has just inspected and worked with the Provincial People's Committee on combating IUU fishing. It is assessed that the province has made many efforts to implement the shortcomings according to the EC's recommendations, but Binh Thuan still has a lot of work to do, especially in monitoring offshore fishing fleets, the loss of VMS connection at sea during the southern fish season - the time when fishing vessels are likely to violate foreign waters.

Binh Thuan is making efforts with the whole country to remove the EC "yellow card".

At the meeting with the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien emphasized: "There are only 3 months left for localities to complete the contents according to the EC's recommendations. Therefore, from now until September is the time for the entire political system to focus on the work, to unanimously carry out the work of combating IUU fishing for the national interest, the interests of the people, because the upcoming 5th inspection by the EC is the last chance for Vietnam to remove the "yellow card".

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/ngu-dan-binh-thuan-bat-dau-vao-vu-ca-nam-119321.html