Ships docked means fishermen have no income

Many fishing boats have not been supported

Since the end of 2024, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Luan's offshore fishing boat in Phu Thuan (Phu Vang) has been grounded due to not receiving fuel support funds in 2024 from the policy to encourage offshore fishing. In 2024, his boat made 4 offshore fishing trips, each lasting 15 days. After each trip, he completed all the necessary paperwork and sent it to the relevant agency to make fuel support payments according to Decision 48/2010/QD-TTg, dated July 13, 2010 of the Prime Minister on the policy to support offshore fishing. However, he has not yet received support for the 4 offshore fishing trips in 2024.

“Without the cost of fuel and labor, the ship has been forced to stay ashore since the end of 2024, meaning the family has no income. In previous years, after submitting the application 3-4 months, we received support funds, but now we don’t understand why we haven’t received support even though we submitted the application for a long time…” – Mr. Luan confided.

In the same situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh's fishing boat with a capacity of more than 700CV, in the same Phu Thuan commune, has also been on shore since the beginning of the year because he has no investment capital for offshore trips. Mr. Thanh said that his boat goes to sea 3-4 times a year, each trip receiving a financial support of 100 million VND from the State. In 2024 alone, his four offshore trips have not yet received any support.

“After each sea trip, I complete the documents and submit them to the City Fisheries Department and they have been approved, with all the documents complete, no violations of the monitoring device, no violations of IUU fishing; from the fishing port to the fishing area is 250 nautical miles long, each sea trip is more than 15 days long. However, for some reason, the authorities have not paid us the offshore fishing support fund,” Mr. Thanh shared.

After borrowing capital to cover costs, fuel and labor, Mr. Nguyen Van Tan's fishing boat (with a capacity of 720CV) in Phu Thuan continued to go to sea after a long time on shore due to not receiving fuel support in 2024. According to Mr. Tien, for each such trip, he had to borrow a total of nearly 50 million VND. If business goes well, he might still have the cost to pay off the debt, but if the weather is unfavorable, business is at a loss, and interest begets interest, then the only way is to... go bankrupt.

Chairman of Phu Thuan Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dan informed that the whole commune currently has nearly 50 offshore fishing vessels with a capacity of 400CV to 1,000CV. In 2024, most of the vessels will make 3-4 offshore fishing trips. However, only 23 fishing vessels received financial support from the first offshore fishing incentive policy, with a total budget of nearly 2.53 billion VND. The rest have not received financial support for offshore fishing in 2024. Since the beginning of the year, many fishing vessels have been forced to stay ashore due to lack of funds for repairs, fuel, materials and labor, causing great difficulties for the people, while also significantly affecting the local seafood exploitation output, one of the commune's strengths.

Timely removal of obstacles

According to data from the City's Department of Fisheries, up to now, the city has more than 430 fishing boats with a length of 15m or more, of which more than 60% have a capacity of 400CV to 1,000CV.

Mr. Vo Giang, Deputy Head of the City Fisheries Sub-Department, said that from the beginning of each year, the unit organizes appraisal and advises the Department of Agriculture and Environment to promptly submit to the City People's Committee for approval the list of fishing vessels participating in offshore fishing so that fishermen can fish with peace of mind and implement favorable support policies. The work of receiving support documents and confirming fishing trip news for fishermen is carried out in accordance with the correct procedures, avoiding inconvenience for fishermen. In 2024 alone, the sub-department has advised all levels and the Hue City People's Committee has decided to allocate funds to support fishing vessels participating in fishing activities in offshore areas in the first phase of 2024, with a total amount of nearly 16 billion VND for people in Phu Vang, Phu Loc localities... Of which, support for fuel for offshore trips is nearly 15.23 billion VND and support for hull insurance is nearly 712 million VND. However, the number of pending cases that have not been supported in 2024 is still large, due to some procedures that are pending to provide support to people as soon as possible.

“The work of appraising and advising the City People's Committee to support funding for fishermen is identified by the unit as an important task. Because the policy of supporting offshore fishing continues to receive attention from the State in order to promptly help fishermen feel secure and actively participate in long-term fishing, contributing to economic development and strengthening security and defense at sea,” Mr. Vo Giang affirmed.

Article and photos: BA TRI

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/kinh-te/som-ho-tro-cho-nhung-tau-ca-danh-bat-xa-bo-153500.html