Although there are still many difficulties and shortcomings, thanks to the ability to overcome difficulties and creativity of the people, good models and methods have been suggested for effective fishing, increasing the value of seafood when processing and preserving on shore. Accordingly, along with continuing to promote the effectiveness of traditional fishing and processing models, people are making efforts to diversify the types of processing and preservation, gradually building product brands that meet OCOP standards and export.
Traditional fishing is facing numerous difficulties, poor fishing efficiency has caused many fishermen to abandon their boats and change jobs, which is something no one wants. However, this is also an opportunity for us to restructure our fishing fleet more drastically.
To clarify this solution, we would like to quote the opinion of Mr. Tran Quoc Thanh - Director of the Department of Science and Technology and an expert in the field of fisheries. He shared: For a long time, our fishing fleet has increased too quickly, the exploitation force is too strong, causing the aquatic resources to decline rapidly. Currently, the Government has approved the Fisheries Planning Project in the direction of gradually reducing exploitation output, so to improve the efficiency of fisheries, it is necessary to reduce the fishing force. Accordingly, localities need to reduce the size of offshore fishing fleets to a reasonable level, there needs to be a mechanism to gradually reduce the inshore fishing fleet. With the current seafood reserves, Nghe An has 3,400 vessels, of which 1,200 are offshore fishing vessels, Nghe An has up to 2,000 vessels under 15m, which is too much.
In addition, to improve the efficiency of offshore fishing, there needs to be a roadmap to encourage fishermen to approach and learn from the experiences of other provinces, and change fishing techniques towards focusing on catching seafood that is typical of the sea and has high economic value. For example, fishermen in Phu Yen province only catch tuna and raise lobsters for export to other countries. When realizing that the quality of fish preservation was not good, Japan sent experts to introduce fishing, preservation and processing methods to the fishermen. If the requirements were met, they would import at the highest value. The same story happened with tra fish, basa fish and some other flowers and fruits when exported to Europe and America, and experts also came to guide them.
Mr. Nguyen Chi Luong - Head of the Department of Fisheries also shared: Nghe An used to have strong seafood such as mackerel, shrimp, hairtail and squid caught by people in the Gulf of Tonkin, which were very delicious and became its own brand. Now due to difficulties, the fishing industry has to accept a period of silence, hardship, reduce exploitation to restore aquatic resources and cannot go to sea to catch whatever is available but must know how to choose the right fish to catch for the job, few but with good prices; not abusing and overfishing, then Nghe An's fishing industry will quickly return.
Mr. Vu Ngoc Chat - Chairman of Quynh Long Commune Fisheries Association (Quynh Luu) said: Recently, while the purse seine fishing boats of Quynh Luu district are facing difficulties, fishermen in Quynh Lap (Hoang Mai town) have bought purse seine boats to convert them to catch fish or scoop; similarly, fishermen in Nam Dinh province have also bought Nghe An purse seine boats to convert them to catch flying trawls, tuna and needlefish in the Gulf of Tonkin. To preserve the profession and find solutions for the purse seine fishing, Quynh Long Commune Fisheries Association is planning to organize a team of captains of purse seine boats to study the technology and technical processes of seafood exploitation of tail-seine boats, but there is no funding yet.
Mr. Tran Xuan Nhue - Head of Exploitation Department, Provincial Fisheries Sub-Department said: To support reducing costs for fishermen and improving fishing efficiency, since 2020, the Sub-Department has advised the province to support fish detectors, hydraulic winches on offshore fishing vessels; support converting incandescent bulbs to LED lights, seawater filters to freshwater, installing seafood storage tanks using PU technology... However, only the policy to support hydraulic winches has been approved, so it is necessary to propose additional support in the coming time.
In addition, regarding preservation technology on fishing vessels and onshore cold storages, despite propaganda and mobilization, only a few fishing vessels built under Decree 67 apply PU technology to make cold storages, the rest are not enthusiastic due to high costs. As for onshore seafood purchasing facilities, due to unstable prices, instead of investing in large cold storages as before, cold storage owners choose flexible solutions, accordingly, if they have to build a warehouse, they invest in modern cold storage technology from the US and Japan to freeze high-value seafood, preserving seafood for 3-6 months or 12 months for sale when the market needs it. For small and fresh seafood, use refrigerated trucks to go straight to Laos, China, etc. to reduce warehouse investment costs and electricity bills.
Although not really a breakthrough, the effectiveness of traditional seafood processing villages is undeniable. Thanks to companies and villages producing and processing traditional fish sauce products, tens of thousands of tons of fish are consumed each year, the value has doubled and tripled compared to the beginning. Moreover, currently, on the basis of traditional processing technology, many facilities have invested in vacuum machines, freezers and then processed and preserved into fish and dried squid, simple but long-lasting preservation and tripled in value.
In addition, to develop the fishery, it is necessary to boldly attract investment projects in modern animal feed processing factories to produce fishmeal as raw material for animal feed. This is an advantage of the livestock industry, but the condition is that the factories are new, modern, far from residential areas and do not pollute the environment... Currently, in addition to 6 seafood processing companies and 4 fishmeal purchasing and processing facilities at the estuaries from Quynh Lap (Hoang Mai Town) to Nghi Tan and Nghi Hai (Cua Lo Town), each year purchasing 22,000 tons. Nghe An also plans 14 clusters and centers for processing aquatic and seafood products concentrated at ports with an area of nearly 80 hectares, of which the latest is a fishing logistics area of nearly 35 hectares in Lach Quen, Quynh Thuan Commune, but the implementation progress is quite slow.
Along with implementing support policies for aquatic and seafood products to meet OCOP standards or food safety standards, the province also needs to continue to support agricultural products in general and seafood in particular to participate in the value chain and large supermarkets. Currently, the province has famous seafood brands such as Quynh Luu dried squid, Quynh Di fish sauce; Hai Giang 1 fish sauce (Cua Lo town), Bien Quynh seafood... but they need more support to enter large supermarkets.
For the seafood processing industry to develop, it is necessary to find a comparative advantage and a separate path. Let me quote the lesson of Thanh Giang fish cake processing facility in Duc Xuan hamlet, Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu). Although newly established, it has opened a new direction in seafood processing in Tien Thuy area in particular and Quynh Luu in general.
Although the product is popular in the market, due to the lack of product information and especially the lack of food hygiene and safety certification, it is difficult to expand. Mr. Nguyen Anh Hung - Director of the Agricultural Service Center of Quynh Luu district said: Currently, there are many fish cake processing facilities in the district, the product is popular in the market but does not have a brand. After supporting Tan An fish sauce village to build a brand, the center is currently assigned by the district People's Committee to guide and support people to make fish cake brands and advise on support policies.
Similarly, in the coastal area of Dien Chau, consumers have long known about its shrimp products, due to the quality, nutritional value, color, and taste of the product.
According to Mr. Le Minh Tuan - Chairman of Dien Chau Peeled Shrimp Production and Trading Association, recognizing the difficulties in market development as well as creating stable output for the local shrimp exploitation industry, in 2016, Dien Chau Peeled Shrimp Production and Trading Association was established with 30 members; after production, establishments will have people to purchase, package and consume. In October 2017, Dien Chau peeled shrimp products were granted a Certificate of Collective Trademark Registration by the Department of Intellectual Property and in 2022 were recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as 3 OCOP stars. Up to now, the whole Dien Chau district has nearly 100 households specializing in peeled shrimp production, concentrated in 2 communes: Dien Bich and Dien Ngoc, using traditional, manual methods. The annual output of local peeled shrimp is about 30 tons of peeled shrimp, bringing in hundreds of billions of VND in revenue, creating jobs for over 300 coastal workers.
Shrimp farming here not only increases income and improves the lives of coastal people but also plays an important role in preserving and promoting the traditional profession of Dien Chau, especially in increasing the value of seafood after catching.
Mr. Nguyen Van Ha - Head of the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Processing of the province said: While waiting for the documents to be completed for Nghe An seafood brands to participate in distribution chains, developing processing activities in craft villages, using handicrafts, is also a solution to help solve the output of seafood and create jobs for people. A survey by the Department of Agriculture in the past 5 years shows that, among small-scale handicraft villages, food and seafood processing villages create great efficiency, so they need to be encouraged to develop.
Along with support from the province's policies, according to the information we know, the fish sauce craft villages of Tan An (An Hoa) and Hai Giang 1 (Nghi Hai ward) are currently receiving funding from the JICA Program's Sustainable Coastal Rural Infrastructure Upgrade Survey Project of over 2 billion VND to support the craft villages in converting the fish sauce distillation tank system in the craft villages from concrete or plastic to ceramic tanks. Mr. Hoang Duc Thuong - Head of the Hai Giang 1 Fish Sauce Craft Village Management Board assessed: This is an extremely necessary support to reduce raw material consumption and improve the quality of fish sauce products. Currently, his family has invested hundreds of millions of VND to buy over 50 ceramic jars and fish sauce filtering machines. The efficiency is very good, each year the family's facility produces over 300 thousand liters. In addition to the products, the facility is also a stopover, attracting tourists to visit and experience.
