How to end the situation of ships being grounded due to lack of labor?

The role of the captain

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh in Dai Bac hamlet, Quynh Long commune (Quynh Luu) owns 3 ships with engine capacity of 700 CV/ship or more. However, since Tet until now, 1 of his 3 ships does not have enough workers to go to sea. According to Mr. Minh, the reason is: Before Tet, he asked his nephew to be the captain, but because he did not have experience in catching seafood, the catch was not much, so the profit was low, and the workers' salaries were not guaranteed. Therefore, the workers on his ship did not follow, resulting in a shortage of manpower, forcing his ship to stay ashore for a while after Tet.

In the seafood industry, the roles of the captain and chief engineer determine the effectiveness of each voyage. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Vu Ngoc Chat - Chairman of Quynh Long Commune Fisheries Association said: The locality has 106 boats, of which 100 have engines of 400CV or more, fishing by purse seine. The characteristics of purse seine fishing are large boats with large engines, using modern fishing equipment. While fishing, the captain needs to have a lot of experience and fishing techniques. For example, when detecting a school of fish, the captain must apply the reality of wind speed, wind direction, how the school of fish moves... to adjust the net accordingly to be effective. Otherwise, only a part of the school of fish can be caught. Therefore, ships lacking labor often fall into the category of purse seine fishing ships, inexperienced captains, small, outdated machinery... that do not catch fish effectively. Previously, there were no two mechanical winches, each boat used 18-20 workers, but now ship owners invest tens of millions of dong to install mechanical winches, so the number of workers has decreased to 14-16.

To make the fishing industry in general and purse seine fishing in particular effective, according to Mr. Chat, ship owners need to have methods to organize production; must have technical qualifications and experience in exploitation; captains must master the equipment on board; ships must be equipped with modern fishing equipment.

Mr. Phan Van Hai - Chairman of the Fisheries Association of Quynh Lap Commune (Hoang Mai Town) said: In the profession of catching seafood at sea, the captain and chief engineer always have to supervise all the work during the fishing process. Therefore, the most important factor is that the captain and chief engineer must have a lot of experience, while ordinary workers only follow the instructions with manual work, supporting in the fishing process. Therefore, many ship owners in Quynh Lap have long hired workers from other districts, the situation of ships lacking labor in Quynh Lap is not common, if it happens, it only happens on a few trips, not lasting from month to month.

Need to train sea workers

Mr. Chu Quoc Nam - Deputy Head of the Department of Fisheries said: In recent years, the exploitation, capture and processing of aquatic and seafood products for domestic supply and export in our province has become a key economic sector. In the province, there are currently over 3,900 fishing vessels, of which over 1,200 vessels have a capacity of 90CV or more. The most concerning thing at present is the shortage of seafarers, especially the low technical level of seafarers. Therefore, in recent years, implementing the decisions of the Provincial People's Committee on mechanisms and policies to support training in fisheries, each year, the Department of Fisheries coordinates with Nha Trang University to open training classes and issue certificates for captains, chief engineers and 118 crew certificates, however, the number of trained workers is not much compared to the actual demand.

In the long term, localities, ship owners and fishing associations in coastal areas need to have a systematic strategy for training marine workers to proactively fish and develop traditional occupations, especially advanced fishing techniques being applied in modernizing the fleet and State and international regulations on fishing and exploiting marine resources.

Lack of seafarers has caused ships to be stranded like this. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The lack of experience and techniques in fishing at sea not only results in low efficiency but also affects the health and lives of the crew. Many crew members have died while fishing at sea due to lack of skills in the profession. Therefore, the work of promoting fisheries, vocational training, coaching, transferring new techniques and technologies to help fishermen master fishing grounds and be proactive in all production situations at sea is extremely urgent. This will be a factor that creates a strong push for the development of the province's fisheries./.