Lesson 1: The effectiveness of career change

(Baonghean) - Aquatic resources are increasingly declining while fuel prices are constantly increasing; the labor force for aquatic exploitation is lacking and low-skilled; infrastructure is not yet adequate and not synchronized... These are the reasons why the aquatic exploitation industry in our province is facing pressure to change. And the shortest way is offshore fishing...

Orphaned since 3 months in the womb, dropped out of secondary school and followed the fishermen in the village to sea to earn a living, Truong Cong Tuan (Hamlet 2, Quynh Nghia Commune - Quynh Luu) understands better than anyone the hardships of the "birds in the sky, fish in the water" profession, especially for boats that only hover around the shore. Therefore, Tuan always works hard to one day be the owner of a large ship that can set sail and sail straight out to sea. "In 2000, I worked in the same profession making 90CV boats but it didn't work out so after 2 years I sold it and upgraded to 120CV. In 2007, I bought a 130CV two-sao boat but every time I went out to sea and encountered level 5 or 6 winds, I had to worry about getting back to shore so it was hard. It wasn't until the middle of last year, along with 9 other people in the same profession, that I made a 4-sao 500CV boat. My boat now goes hundreds of nautical miles, in the common fishing area in the Gulf of Tonkin, so I'm just worried about not having the strength to fish," Tuan said excitedly.

500CV boat of Mr. Truong Cong Tuan (Quynh Nghia - Quynh Luu)

According to the owner of the NA 9012TS ship, in the past, if the weather was calm, each voyage would last 20 days, and by the time they arrived, all the fish and squid would be rotten. Now, in one full moon (from about the 17th or 18th of the lunar month to the 7th or 8th of the lunar month next month), they can make three voyages, each one a week, and sometimes in just one night, they can catch several dozen tons of fish. Tuan said: "On average, each voyage during the main season, after deducting expenses of about one hundred million (for 4,000 liters of oil, 15,000 blocks of ice, food and provisions for 10 people), they also make a profit of about one and a half hundred million; that means each person brings home about 15 million VND/month for his wife and children."

According to the Nghe An Department of Exploitation and Protection of Aquatic Resources, implementing the policy of changing occupations and regions, since 2009, along with the increase in quantity, the structure of the province's offshore fleet has also been constantly increasing. By the end of June 2012, out of 4,178 fishing vessels of all kinds, there were 1,027 offshore fishing vessels (over 90CV) with a total capacity of 236,640CV, of which: 53 were newly built and 67 were converted. The strong development of the offshore fleet has contributed significantly to bringing the province's fishing output in the first 6 months of 2012 to 62,116 tons (nearly equal to the output of the whole year 2011 of 66,533 tons and more than 2 times higher than in 2001).

Mr. Hoang Sy Ngan - Head of the Department of Aquatic Resources and Environment Management, Department of Aquatic Resources Exploitation and Protection, said: Sharing the difficulties with the fishermen of the province, from 2009 up to now, implementing the decisions on policies to support investment in agricultural - rural development and fisheries, the Department has been implementing 25 models with a budget of 1.785 billion VND to support fishermen in coastal localities to change their jobs. That is, changing from the trawling profession to offshore trawling, from the nearshore fishing profession to the rough trawling profession, from the light trawling profession to the 4-tang - gong fishing, from the trawling profession to the purse seine profession, from the 2-pole fishing profession near the shore to the offshore lead-drawing profession, from the nearshore trawling profession to the offshore purse seine profession, from the inshore trawling profession to the offshore trawling profession, from the inshore trawling profession to the offshore trawling profession...

Mr. Vo Trung Kien, an officer in charge of fisheries under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district, said: Quynh Luu is not only the district with the largest number of offshore vessels in the province (809 offshore vessels/2,096 vessels of all types) but is also the pioneer and leading locality in implementing the policy of establishing a Cooperative Group at sea according to Decision 21/2008/QD-UBND dated March 13, 2008 of the Provincial People's Committee. Up to now, the whole district has had 136 groups and teams of all types with 612 participating vessels and 5,832 members.

The latest statistics of the Nghe An Sub-Department of Exploitation and Protection of Aquatic Resources show that, currently in the province, fishermen have established 159 cooperative groups for marine fishing with 1,113 vessels (average 5-7 vessels/group) exploiting the main occupations: fish and squid capture; purse seine; gillnet; trawl... The establishment of fishing teams has helped fishermen to bond together in production and consumption of products, improve fishing efficiency and provide timely support in times of strong winds and waves or when encountering accidents at sea. The united groups and teams in many communes of Quynh Luu district have established strong fishing fleets, operating effectively, exploiting aquatic products by gillnet in the fishing grounds of the Gulf of Tonkin and neighboring provinces.
(To be continued)

Xuan Hai