Policies abound to help fishermen
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The Directorate of Fisheries’ plan for the development of the fishing industry to 2015 proposes numerous policies to provide Vietnamese fishermen with financial aids and training to increase their product value.
In late 2010, the government passed the order No.63 to provide fishermen with financial support to buy freezing and storing equipments.
According to this order, the government will pay 100 percent of the interest incurred on fishermen’s loans to renovate their boats in the first two years, and 50 percent in the years after.
Though other projects to provide cold storage for seafood products, the government will also cover part of the expenses of site clearance and infrastructure and exempt these enterprises from income tax in the first 3 years.
Chu Tien Vinh, head of the Department of Capture Fisheries and Fisheries Resources Protection, said there are many other policies to support fishermen, but most of them have yet to benefit from these aids because the government has been slow to acquaint local authorities with these policies.
The government also plans to establish some major fishing firms and enterprises capable of catching produces in the deep seas and focus on upgrading storing and freezing equipments to increase product values, he said.
Vo Van Trac, deputy head of the Vietnam Fisheries Society, said government policies should focus on supporting fishing in the deep seas and reducing the number of boats fishing in shallow waters, which destroy fisheries and yield few benefits.
He said the Vietnam Fisheries Society is planning to establish an insurance fund to support fishermen catching in the deep seas.
Besides government support, the fund will get money from other sources, he said.
“If the fund is established and proves to be effective, fishermen will feel safe to invest more on fishing in the deep seas,” he said.
An expert in the fishing industry also suggested that the government should issue more policies to encourage fishermen to switch to fishing in the deep sea, which is more profitable.
He said the fishing industry will form teams of logistics boats for each sea area to supply fuel and transport products inland.
In mid June, the central province of Quang Ngai decided to establish the Fund for Fishermen Support.
Truong Ngoc Nhi, deputy head of the provincial People’s Committee, said that the fund’s purpose is to provide insurance for fishing boats to minimize risks of natural disasters, sudden accidents and foreign invasion when they work in the Eastern Sea.
“The province will call for donations from individuals, organizations in and outside Vietnam to share difficulties with fishermen,” he said.
The fund will also provide fishermen with monetary aids to buy fuels and facilities to sail to other fisheries in the deep seas.
Nhi said Quang Ngai will call for donations from provincial officials and employees to have an initial sum of VND500 million to establish the fund.
“Quang Ngai will try its best to create the fund before the storm season this September,” he said.
