Mechanism breakthrough for fishermen

Recently, in Phu Yen, the National Assembly's Economic Committee coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee and SGGP Newspaper to organize a workshop on "Solutions to support fishermen in developing the marine economy". Although there is great potential and many support policies have been issued and implemented in recent years, the efficiency gained from our country's marine economy is still low, and fishermen's lives are very precarious. Therefore, many opinions were raised that there should be a specific mechanism, creating a breakthrough to support fishermen in developing the marine economy in an effective direction, which received high consensus at the workshop.

Support agriculture and forget fishing?

Vietnam has an exclusive economic zone of over 1 million square kilometers, a coastline of over 3,260 kilometers, and many islands, rivers, lagoons, and lagoons. Vietnam's sea occupies an extremely important position in the strategy for socio-economic development and protection of national security and sovereignty. In recent times, aquaculture has become a key economic sector with rapid growth. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the output of aquatic products in 2012 reached 2.63 million tons out of a total output of 5.75 million tons.

As of October 2013, the country had about 117,000 ships, of which 89,000 were ships with a capacity of less than 90CV, and about 28,000 were ships with a capacity of 90CV or more; the main fishing activities of fishermen are mainly gillnets, purse seines, trawls, fishing, squid fishing... fishing activities are spread throughout the sea areas.

Fisheries play an important role in the country's economic development and ensuring food security; creating livelihoods and jobs for over 4 million workers, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, improving the lives of communities and maintaining the sovereignty and security of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

In recent times, many policies have been issued by the Party and the State to support fishermen, such as support for credit loans to build new offshore fishing vessels (1997); support for fuel costs, building new fishing vessels, insurance support (2008-2010); support for reducing post-harvest losses (2010); support for overcoming risks and natural disasters at sea (2007) and support for information equipment, monitoring fishing vessel activities at sea...

The implementation of these support policies has helped fishermen stabilize production, ensure their daily lives and contribute to protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland; develop a large-capacity fishing fleet for offshore fishing, contribute to shifting the structure of fishing occupations, and reduce the pressure on fishing in coastal waters. In 1997, the output reached more than 1 million tons, and by 2012 it had reached 2.63 million tons.

However, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Oai, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that besides the positive results achieved, the development and implementation of the above policies also encountered some difficulties and problems.

Specifically, from policy to implementation, there is a lack of synchronization in supporting the development of fishing vessels such as: loans for shipbuilding do not take into account the purchase of fishing gear and equipment on board, training captains and crew members capable of operating and using large, modern vehicles; the level of support does not meet the needs of fishermen; the conditions for enjoying the policy are not close to the reality of fishing production (100% new ship engines or supported machinery and equipment must ensure a localization factor of 60% or more); the implementation of implementation instructions by competent agencies is not timely; there is a lack of regulations and standards on the selection and installation of information machines, etc.

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Huy Ngo, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that in recent times, support for agriculture and rural areas has been mainly talked about, while fisheries and fishermen have rarely been mentioned. “There is a song that says “Our love is like a silver sea and green fields” - the green fields are clear, but the silver sea is not so clear. If we develop many small fishing grounds as we do now, without reorganizing them in a more effective way, fishermen will not be able to compete,” Mr. Ngo worried.

Urgently build national fisheries center

Going into specific recommendations, many opinions at the workshop said that with the experience and lessons learned in the past, it is necessary to make a breakthrough in the mechanism to support fishermen in developing the marine economy. Dr. Tran Du Lich, member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, recommended that it is necessary to focus on increasing the quality and value of the marine economy, especially exports, and not to focus too much on increasing quantity.

According to Dr. Lich, among the current seafood export products, we should choose some strategic products, not spread them widely. "In the Central region, the greatest potential is ocean tuna, but fishermen using traditional fishing methods cannot meet the export requirements to Japan. So what should we invest in to meet this problem?" - Mr. Lich raised the issue and said that it is necessary to soon build a national seafood center.

This center will invest in building a fishing port, with a place to anchor boats, good fishing logistics facilities, and a processing plant. In addition, there will be a commercial center, a place to transact seafood trading contracts, and a center for information exchange, technical support, banking services, etc.

It is possible to initially build a regional aquaculture center, then upgrade it to a national center. “We can borrow ODA capital to invest, at least about 100 million USD. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should take the lead and discuss with professional associations to develop this project,” said Mr. Lich.

Highly agreeing with the above proposal, Mr. Vu Van Tam, Permanent Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that in the project to restructure the agricultural sector, the part on restructuring the fisheries sector also mentioned improving the quality and value of aquatic products along with stabilizing output. Therefore, choosing strategic products to focus on investment and development is very correct. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has assigned the Directorate of Fisheries to conduct research on the reserves and quality of the three main groups of aquatic resources in our country.

Among them, the large fish group (including ocean tuna) has a very large reserve. "In the near future, we will pilot a project to exploit tuna according to the value chain. In March 2014, there will be a forum discussing tuna exploitation, also held in Phu Yen" - Mr. Tam shared.

Regarding the proposal to build a national fisheries center, according to Deputy Minister Vu Van Tam, in the fisheries development strategy, the plan for 2020-2030 will have 5 large fisheries centers associated with 5 key fishing grounds, in Hai Phong, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Can Tho. Excited by this information, Dr. Tran Du Lich said that it is necessary to build a center in the Central region first, and at the same time pilot tuna as a strategic product.

Developing “new rural areas for fishermen”

Recording the reality from the locality, Mr. Le Nam, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Thanh Hoa province, said: "Through contact with voters who are fishermen, we see that the capital support policy for fishermen is the most difficult issue. Although banks are very interested in increasing credit for fishermen, in reality, seafarers still mainly have to find capital from black credit channels.

This is a very sad situation. The government has had many policies and solutions on capital for fishermen, but in the past, thousands of billions of dong have been thrown into the sea with very low efficiency. We need to learn from experience so that capital can actually reach fishermen. Should the State Bank have a credit package to support fishermen like the housing support credit package currently being implemented? When I raised this issue, Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Van Binh replied that he would study it.

According to Mr. Le Nam, in reality, for many years there has been nothing new in the way fishermen exploit and catch aquatic products. Therefore, people expect stronger support from the State. Besides, there are currently many agencies helping fishermen, but the responsibility for support is unclear. "I think we should have a policy to develop "new rural areas" for fishermen" - Mr. Nam suggested.

Full of enthusiasm, Mr. Le Huy Ngo shared urgent issues such as the risk of natural disasters that must be supported, wanting fishermen to be more prosperous, there must be other ways to support them, and there needs to be centers and industrial zones for fisheries...

According to Mr. Ngo, the State must invest in infrastructure for fishermen such as fishing ports and places to anchor boats. Mr. Ngo said: “When I went to Tokyo (Japan), I was surprised to see a commercial and technological center for fisheries in the middle of a modern city. We must invest to have central and local fisheries centers. This must be considered as developing the fisheries industry, not keeping a small-scale mindset.” According to Mr. Ngo, this issue must be tightly organized, with a fleet, logistics support, and good information. On the other hand, we should increase investment and organize in the form of complex production.

Need special credit mechanism

Analyzing more specifically the issue of capital investment for fishermen, Mr. Nguyen Duy Luong, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Farmers' Association, said that in reality, policies on credit loans to build new or convert offshore fishing vessels; support oil for fishermen to exploit seafood in far-off seas... are only capable of supporting a small number of fishermen.

The policy of supporting the purchase and construction of new ships with the condition that the engine must be 100% new according to technical standards has not attracted many fishermen to participate due to high costs. Lending conditions still apply the commercial lending mechanism, borrowers must have assets to mortgage to the bank, so fishermen have difficulty accessing loans. Loans for shipbuilding but not for the purchase of fishing gear and equipment, so the investment efficiency is not high.

Mr. Luong proposed that the Government continue to increase credit for businesses operating in the seafood sector, with preferential interest rates of 3-5%/year, for a term of 5 years or more to develop production.

Sharing this view, Dr. Pham Hong Manh, Nha Trang University of Fisheries, said that it is necessary to have a very specific mechanism for fishermen to borrow capital to purchase and convert boats and fishing equipment, from interest to interest payment period as well as loan maturity period.

“Most of the fishermen’s assets - the most valuable assets in the family - are used as means of exploitation. Using boats as collateral is not effective and legal, because fishermen use their own assets from loans as collateral for loans. It is advisable to borrow this capital through production teams, with the participation of local authorities in determining the actual needs of loans for this activity. In addition, loans should be expanded to purchase fishing gear and equipment for this activity. Only then can the synchronization in fishermen’s production activities be improved in efficiency,” said Mr. Manh.

In addition, quickly organize research on fishing grounds and resources in distant seas as a basis for more effective exploitation orientation of management agencies. The analysis results have shown that the production value for 1 unit of output in exploitation activities is quite low, which is partly due to spontaneous exploitation by fishermen. If management agencies implement this issue early, it will be a solid scientific basis for forecasting fishing grounds and exploitation objects accurately.

Delegates exchange on the sidelines of the workshop

Regarding the application of science and technology to the fisheries sector in particular and the marine economy in general, Mr. Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said that the upcoming orientation will continue to research and transfer offshore fishing and exploitation technology to fishermen. However, better connections are needed to be effective.

“We recommend that localities and relevant agencies re-evaluate the needs and requirements for science and technology development in fisheries, and place orders with the Ministry of Science and Technology for us to research and implement,” said Mr. Khanh. Chairing the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Giau said: “The Ministry of Science and Technology has proactively “attacked”, but not enough. Through the call of the Ministry of Science and Technology, we recommend that relevant agencies and localities take the initiative to promote the application of science and technology in fishing and aquatic exploitation, providing practical support to fishermen.”

According to Baomoi