A useful initiative by fishermen.

QTO - Over the years, along with improving productivity and seafood catch yields, fishermen have come up with many useful "innovations" such as teaching boat repair skills to crew members to retain maritime labor, using winches to pull boats ashore, and making boats from composite materials to replace traditional bamboo boats... These innovations have helped fishermen in coastal areas feel more confident when venturing out to sea and staying there.

In a story about the current difficulties of the fishing industry, fisherman Bui Dinh Chien from Ha Loc village, Cua Viet commune, said that for nearly 10 years, his family's fleet of three boats, each with a capacity of 800-900 horsepower, specializing in gillnet fishing, squid trawling, and squid traps, has never faced a labor shortage forcing them to stay ashore like some other fishing boats.

His secret to retaining workers is his initiative to teach boat repair skills to the crew members of his family's fishing fleet. After each fishing trip lasting 15-20 days, instead of leaving the 28 crew members idle at home, he calls them over to teach them how to repair, weld, and repaint the hulls of fishing boats, as well as deal with marine organisms like barnacles and oysters clinging to the bottom of the boats. He pays each worker 400-500 thousand dong per day. Thanks to this, his family's offshore fishing fleet rarely needs to take its boats to repair shops. The workers also become more closely attached to the offshore fishing fleet.

In the memories of fisherman Tran Hua in Hamlet 6, Trieu Co Commune, for generations, due to the unique characteristics of the coastal area with no harbors for anchoring boats, about six years ago, every time fishermen went out to sea, they were haunted by the hardship and difficulty of having to maneuver their boats and fishing gear, weighing several tons, from the sea to the shore and back again. During storms or tropical depressions, a dozen strong fishermen would struggle for hours on the sandy shore, repeatedly maneuvering the boats to higher ground to minimize damage.

Fisherman Bui Dinh Chien checks his equipment before heading out to sea - Photo: SH

In 2021, some fishermen from Hamlet 6, Trieu Co Commune, had the opportunity to visit relatives in Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces and saw a winch being used by locals to pull timber. These fishermen bought one, then modified it to "test" pulling boats when docking. Winches used in coastal areas are typically assembled with D10 or D15 diesel engines, cable drums, gearboxes, and large cables ranging from 40 to 100 meters in length. The winches are placed on high ground and securely fixed with cables tied to the base of casuarina trees.

When boats return from the sea, all they need to do is start the winch and pull the cable attached to the boat, and the heavy, ton-heavy vessel is easily pulled ashore. From one "experimental" boat winch, now there are about 10 in Hamlet 6. Every 3-4 families in the hamlet invest about 7-10 million VND to buy a boat winch for shared use. The boat winches can use old D10 or D15 diesel engines, modified with some additional equipment to assemble them into winches, thus reducing the cost of buying new machines. Now, after each trip at sea, instead of laboriously rowing the boat ashore, fishermen only need to start the winch, pull the cable attached to the boat, and the boat "runs" smoothly to the correct position on the shore.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luu, from Thai Lai village, Vinh Hoang commune, said that since 2015 he has been the "first person" to learn and apply the technology of building boats using composite materials in Quang Tri province (formerly). According to Mr. Nguyen Van Luu, composite is a material synthesized from many different materials, resulting in superior properties compared to the original materials. Composite materials inherit the advantages of conventional plastics and even metals, such as flexibility; ease of coloring and molding; and lightweight (only 40% the weight of aluminum for the same volume).

Composite boats have the advantage of using very little raw materials such as wood, planks, and old bamboo, making them environmentally friendly; composite boats are also lighter than traditional wooden boats, so when fitted with an engine, they can reach speeds many times higher. Currently, the price of each composite boat, 10-12 meters long, is around 120-150 million VND/boat. In peak years, Mr. Luu's composite boat building facility can build 40-50 new composite boats.

Having dedicated their entire lives to the sea, fishermen are always seeking ways to increase productivity and catch yields, as well as improve the lives of those working at sea. These small but useful initiatives have given fishermen greater confidence to venture out to sea and continue their livelihoods.

Sy Hoang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/xa-hoi/202604/sang-kien-huu-ich-cua-ngu-dan-8264587/