Hoang Mai attaches importance to the 'spearhead' of marine economic development
(Baonghean.vn) - With 18 km of coastline, including deep waters along the Dong Hoi and Lach Con coasts, which are large estuaries for ships to enter, exit and anchor, Hoang Mai town has great potential for seafood fishing and fishing logistics services. In recent years, thanks to reasonable solutions, the locality has gradually become one of the key areas for fisheries development in the North Central region.
Protecting sovereignty in the Hoang Sa sea area
In Quynh Phuong ward, one of the key localities with the strongest seafood fishing industry in Hoang Mai town, since implementing the State's incentive policy, the fishing capacity of fishermen has increased significantly. Not only that, compared to other localities, Quynh Phuong ward has a more diverse fishing industry.
In addition to the traditional profession of bottom fishing, recently, people have boldly switched to offshore fishing, which is more effective; in 2019, the average income from fishing reached 110 million VND/worker.
Since the Quynh Phuong fishing port was upgraded, a series of logistics services such as mechanical repair, processing, and preservation have also been invested more heavily, so the value of seafood has increased. In 2019, the ward's fishing production value reached 520 billion VND, accounting for 52% of the ward's economic structure.
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| An iron-hulled offshore fishing boat is anchoring at Quynh Phuong fishing port. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Fishermen in Quynh Lap commune have also boldly invested in building new boats to fish offshore. Currently, with 149 out of 200 boats over 15m in length regularly participating in offshore fishing, the annual seafood catch of Quynh Lap commune always reaches over 30,000 tons, fishing activities are the driving force behind the development of the entire economy of the commune.
Within 6 years since its establishment, the whole town has built 79 new ships, of which 41 ships follow Decree 67/CP of the Government, bringing the total number of offshore fishing fleets to nearly 400. The town has also established 128 offshore fishing teams, going offshore for long periods of time. Currently, Hoang Mai Town is the locality with the second largest offshore fishing vessels in the province and is a pioneer in participating in fishing to protect sovereignty in the Hoang Sa sea area when every year there are over 200 hundred boats registering to fish and protect sovereignty over the sea and islands in the Hoang Sa sea area. The catch in 2019 reached nearly 50 thousand tons, 2.2 times higher than in 2013.
In addition, thanks to improved processing and warehousing capacity, the town not only ensures the ability to purchase products for fishermen, but can also purchase seafood from other provinces for processing. In 2019, the processing value reached 970 billion VND and is expected to reach 990 billion VND in 2020, double that of 2013.
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| Purchasing, processing and freezing fish at Quynh Phuong fishing port. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Continue the strategy of developing marine economy
In order for the marine economy to have such positive changes, since 2014, right after its establishment, Hoang Mai town has issued the Marine Economic Development Project for the period 2014 - 2015 and up to 2020. Next, the Resolution of the Town Party Congress, term 2015 - 2020 continues to identify the marine economy as one of the priority investment focuses.
Based on the project and direction of the town, departments, offices and localities have developed plans and key programs for implementation. After 6 years, the town has mobilized and integrated about 150 billion VND to build and upgrade Lach Con fishing port, open 3 km of road from Con Ngoai temple to Quynh Phuong fishing port, contributing to connecting the tourist area with the fishing port.
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| Shrimp harvesting in Quynh Xuan ward (Hoang Mai town). |
Comrade Hoang Ngoc Thuy - Head of the Economic Department of Hoang Mai town said: In the context of investment in industry not bringing the desired results, the marine economy, with output increasing by 10.05%/year and processing value increasing by 13.3%/year, has greatly contributed to stabilizing life and developing the town's economy and society.
However, with the increasing international integration and the implementation of Vietnam's Marine Strategy in the new period, Hoang Mai Town in particular and Nghe An in general are making efforts to bring the traditional fishing profession of the people to modern fishing.
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| Fishermen mend their nets at the wharf in preparation for a long fishing trip. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Comrade Ho Sy Hoang - Secretary of the Quynh Lap Commune Party Committee shared: After a period of over-exploitation of the fishing fleet, now is the time for Quynh Lap Commune and the town to look back, review, and restructure by stabilizing the fleet without further development so that the fishing industry can develop more sustainably. Statistics in recent years show that although the number of fishing vessels is increasing and becoming larger, the output and value are not increasing proportionally. In addition, due to low income, the number of fishing workers is decreasing, and the fishing grounds are increasingly narrowing (due to procedures and supervision), so restructuring is necessary.
To continue improving the efficiency of seafood exploitation in the context of increasingly depleted coastal aquatic resources, based on the evaluation of 6 years of implementing the Marine Economic Project, Hoang Mai town has provided orientations for fishermen.
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| Propaganda for offshore fishing boats. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Accordingly, along with the urgent modernization, upgrading of fishing equipment on board and the application of new science and technology, going offshore, the town strives to improve fishing efficiency by linking the purchasing, processing and preserving of aquatic and seafood products in a chain for longer fishing days; fishing vessels participating in fishing must strictly comply with the provisions of the 2017 Fisheries Law and the EU's recommendation on the "Yellow Card" so that seafood can reach larger markets. At the same time, it is necessary to continue investing in upgrading port infrastructure, wharves, waterways and building brands, origin of goods...
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| Hoang Mai town continues to identify marine economy as one of the priority investment focuses. Photo: Ho Long |
In the context of gradually depleting aquatic resources, to increase the value of fishing, it is necessary to do a good job of purchasing, processing and preserving. Since the Quynh Phuong fishing port was upgraded, due to the convenience of ships entering and leaving the port, many businesses and enterprises have invested tens of billions of VND to install large-capacity cold storage (average 200 to 250 tons/warehouse) to purchase seafood, process, and freeze for export, so the value has increased significantly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Lach Con, people in Quynh Lap commune also took advantage of the fresh water source to boldly invest in opening an ice factory and supplying fresh water; actively purchasing seafood for processing, steaming, drying, and packaging for export.
In the near future, to develop coastal resort tourism, Hoang Mai Town is planning to expand the Con Temple service area, increase investment in service infrastructure, and connect with Quynh Beach Tourist Area to attract visitors. In addition, the town is also increasing investment in aquaculture in the direction of safety and quality, encouraging projects to transfer production of white-leg shrimp, crabs, spirulina, etc. Hopefully, this will be a new direction of efficiency and sustainability for Hoang Mai's marine economy.
