Shipbuilding subsidies for fishermen: Outdated and untimely!
(Baonghean) - In recent times, with the mechanisms and policies encouraging the development of fishing vessels, the number of large-capacity vessels has increased rapidly. However, the movement to develop offshore fishing fleets in recent years could be stronger if appropriate and timely policies were in place.
Since 2009, Nghe An province has issued many policies and mechanisms to encourage the development of agriculture in general and the fisheries sector in particular, including a mechanism to support interest rates for building new fishing vessels. Decisions 09/2009, 10/2010, and 09/2012 of the Provincial People's Committee all share one common point: providing interest rate support for owners of fishing vessels. The maximum support level is 54 million VND, depending on the vessel's engine capacity. According to Mr. Nguyen Chi Luong, Head of the Fisheries Resource Protection Sub-Department, before 2009, to encourage fishermen to develop fishing vessels with large engine capacities, aiming to venture further offshore with two purposes: reducing the burden on coastal and nearshore areas to protect increasingly depleted fisheries resources and protecting the country's territorial waters, the fisheries sector advised the province to issue a mechanism to support interest rates for building new vessels for fishermen.
At that time, newly built vessels with engines exceeding 200 horsepower were very rare. Calculating the costs of shipbuilding, purchasing engines, and loan interest, the industry recommended a maximum support level of 54 million VND. To date, after 5 years and 3 revisions to the policy mechanism, the support level remains unchanged. According to feedback, loan interest rates have been increasing annually, making this support level unsuitable. Now, building vessels under 300 horsepower is outdated for the profession, so fishermen are building vessels with engines exceeding 300 horsepower. The cost of building a new vessel over 300 horsepower currently ranges from 4-5 billion VND depending on the type of fishing, while vessels with 700-800 horsepower engines cost tens of billions of VND. Investigations in various localities reveal that most of the shipbuilding costs are financed through loans from multiple sources. Fishermen's own capital, at most, only covers about a quarter of the required amount. Compared to the costs and monthly loan interest rates, the maximum support amount of 54 million VND offered by the support mechanism is far too small compared to reality. Therefore, many fishermen hope for a change to increase this amount to alleviate some of the burden of bank loan interest.
On the other hand, support has been delayed over the years. In the three years of 2010, 2011, and 2013, the number of newly built fishing vessels in the province was 192. The total support amount according to Decision 09/2012/QD-UBND was over 8.3 billion VND. The State only paid fishermen over 3.49 billion VND, with 2.5 billion VND allocated for payment in 2014. The amount still outstanding (or debt) is 2.46 billion VND. Only in 2012 was the payment for newly built vessels fully disbursed because the number of new vessels built in that year was low, so the annual budget was sufficient. The delay in interest rate support has caused many difficulties for fishermen, leading to a loss of confidence in the issued policy.
Mr. Ho Chat, residing in Hamlet 3, Quynh Nghia Commune, Quynh Luu District, stated that in 2011, he and nine fellow fishermen jointly built a new fishing vessel with a capacity of 580 horsepower, costing over 4 billion VND in total. They only managed to borrow 1 billion VND from each other, with the remaining 3 billion VND needing to be secured by a bank loan. Knowing about the support mechanism, he has been processing the application for the past three years, but has yet to receive the funds. He considers this a significant delay and hopes to receive the interest subsidy to partially repay the bank loan and alleviate the financial burden. He also hopes the subsidy amount will be adjusted annually according to the bank's interest rate. For example, the interest rate in 2010 was 1.6% per month, while in 2011 it was 1.9% per month.
Sharing the same sentiment as Mr. Chất is Mr. Nguyễn Chiến from Tiến Thủy, Quỳnh Lưu. In 2011, he and his friends built a 480 HP fishing boat using a four-pole trawling net. To this day, he has not received the interest subsidy. He believes this is too slow and negates the meaning of the support. He is also hoping to receive the subsidy soon to help alleviate some of the difficulties in his life and that of his fellow fishermen.
When discussing these issues with Mr. Tran Huu Tien, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, he acknowledged that the support for fishermen to build new fishing vessels under Decision 09 of the Provincial People's Committee is "outdated and untimely." According to him, due to the importance of the offshore fishing policy, interest rate subsidies should be replaced with subsidies for new construction, and the level of support should be increased many times compared to the current level. Only then will it motivate and encourage fishermen to invest in offshore fishing.
Mr. Tuan
