Losses from fishing trips during the Lunar New Year holiday.

( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Low catch yields have resulted in losses for many tuna fishing boats in the province after the fishing season that spanned the Lunar New Year of 2025.

From January 8th until now, at fishing ports throughout the province, fishing boats have been returning one after another after spending the entire Tet holiday fishing in the fishing grounds. Among them are many boats catching tuna. Although it is the peak season for catching tuna, many fishermen shared that their fishing trip during the Tet holiday of 2025 was unsuccessful and did not meet their expectations.

After 20 days of fishing throughout the Tet holiday in the Hoang Sa fishing grounds, the fishing vessel QNg 98546 TS of fisherman Tran Tan Hai, from Vinh Tuy village, Pho Chau commune (Duc Pho town), quickly docked at Sa Huynh fishing port to unload its catch. On this trip, Mr. Hai's boat only caught about 20 tuna, with a total yield of over 500kg. With a selling price of 50,000 VND/kg for fish under 20kg/each and 90-100,000 VND for fish 30kg/each or more, Mr. Hai's boat suffered a loss on this trip.

A tuna fishing boat docks at Sa Huynh fishing port (Duc Pho town) to sell its catch after a fishing trip that spanned the Tet holiday.

Hai shared that in previous years, most fishing trips during the Tet holiday resulted in a successful catch of tuna. However, this year the catch was too low, leading to losses. The crew members accepted being away from their families and celebrating Tet at sea hoping to catch more tuna and earn a higher income. However, the result was a failed trip, leaving everyone sad.

Fishing in the same waters as Mr. Hai's boat, the fishing vessel QNg 94669 TS of fisherman Mai Xuan Trang from Pho Chau commune also docked after days at sea throughout the Tet holiday. While unloading fish to sell to traders, fisherman Trang said that his boat caught 17 large tuna, estimated at about 600kg, for about 60 million VND, while the expenses for the trip were 100 million VND. “Only boats that catch more than 30 large tuna can be considered profitable; those with fewer than 30 either break even or lose money. There has never been a Tet fishing trip as unprofitable as this year,” Trang said sadly.

According to experienced fishermen, the period before and during Tet (Lunar New Year) is the best time to catch high-value seafood and get higher prices than at other times of the year, so many boats boldly went out to sea to celebrate Tet. However, according to initial statistics from fishing ports in the province, most fishing boats that stayed out at sea during Tet to catch tuna had poor results. The majority of boats only achieved a yield of 500kg - 650kg of tuna.

According to the Provincial Fisheries Department, during the Lunar New Year holiday of 2025, the province had 45 vessels with 247 fishermen working at sea throughout the holiday. These vessels mainly exploited marine resources in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fishing grounds. Currently, most fishing vessels have docked at ports to unload seafood and submit their fishing logs. In addition to vessels docking at designated fishing ports within the province, many vessels also docked at ports outside the province.

Text and photos: AN NHIEN

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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/kinh-te/bien-kinh-te-bien/202502/that-thu-phien-bien-xuyen-tet-1491634/