Fishermen band together to overcome difficulty
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Many fishermen choose to come together in voluntary fishing cooperation and mutual support groups to overcome the difficulty they face in the offshore fishing industry.
Nui Thanh District of the central province of Quang Nam is one of the provinces with the most fishing trawlers in the Central Vietnam.
170 cuttle-fishing boats of the district have been divided into groups of three to eight, to better facilitate cooperation among the fishermen in their work.
All boats from each group will set sail to sea together on every fishing trip.
The family of Huynh Ngoc Du, a 58-year-old fisherman in Tam Giang Commune, is a typical example of this “team work” approach in Quang Nam.
No longer going out to sea, Du is now the “captain” of a group of six fishing trawlers, two of his two sons and four of his neighbors.
If one of the boats finds a rich fishing ground, it will inform him via the ICOM communication system, and he will relay the information to the other boats in the group.
“If all 8 trawlers work together in one same area to catch fish, the time and cost will be much reduced,” he said. “Moreover, together we stand a much better chance of fighting against natural disaster or foreign invasions.”
The fishermen in Quang Ngai Province even go further. Their fishing corporations and mutual support groups are now sailing to the foreign seas in the Philippines and Malaysia.''
These fishermen have invested a significant sum in their trawlers, obtained passports for their crews and made direct contacts with foreign partners.
D.V.R., a fisherman in Binh Son District, said all of the crew members in his 20-trawler group are legally registered with the local authorities so they can legally catch fish in the Malaysian waters.
He said the much lower price of diesel in Malaysia, just VND8,000 a liter compared to VND21,100 in Vietnam, plus the high price of fishing products in Malaysia have enabled him to earn big profits from each fishing trip.
If the price for their catch in the Malaysian or Filipino markets is lower than in the domestic market, the boats will inform each other and they will sail back to Vietnam sell it, he added.
Truong Van Ngu, a fisherman who joins a mutual support group of 20 trawlers in Kien Giang Province, said the cooperation has helped reduce the risk and increase the efficiency of their offshore fishing operations.
“We no longer need to head back every time the boat is full,” he said.
“This helps bring down the cost of sailing in and out, and thus gives us more time to focus on fishing.”
Although the teamwork scheme has helped fishermen overcome some difficulties, they still need to make further improvement to achieve bigger targets.
Nguyen Van Manh, an experienced fisherman in Phuoc Tinh, said most of the fishing boats in Ba Ria – Vung Tau are capable of fishing in the deep sea.
But at present, most of them only catch fish by trawling at the swallow depth of less than 200 meters.
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong, deputy director of Kien Giang Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, said the trawling technique consumes a lot of fuel and the products it captures usually have low values.
She said the provincial people’s committee has been encouraging fishermen to switch to fishing at the lowers level of the deep sea in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fisheries.
This will save cost and increase the product values, she said.
