Nghe An fishermen are not interested in the policy of supporting fishing boats to install hydraulic winch systems.

Fishermen in Tan Hai hamlet, Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai town) said that in recent months, due to the decline in seafaring labor, many fishing boats have had to accept a reduction in the number of workers on each trip.

Nghe An fishermen are not interested in the province's support policy for installing hydraulic winches on fishing boats. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Many ship owners plan to invest in installing the system.hydraulic winchto reduce labor and make it safer, but because the installation cost is over 450 million VND/system, while the State only supports no more than 100 million VND, it is not yet qualified to implement.

Quynh Lap Commune is the locality with the largest number of fishing boats in the province, with 205, of which 165 are fishing boats with a length of over 15m. Mr. Le Ba Ky - Vice Chairman of Quynh Lap Commune People's Committee said that recently, the locality has organized propaganda for fishermen on the province's support policy on installing hydraulic winch systems on fishing boats for trawling. However, due to the high cost and difficult income, fishermen have not paid much attention.

“At the beginning of the year, several boat owners registered to install it, but then the fishing industry encountered difficulties and after researching, they found the price was high, so they stopped. Currently, no fishermen in the commune have installed a hydraulic winch system according to the province's support policy,” Mr. Le Ba Ky shared.

The main reason is that the price of hydraulic winches is high, while the province's support level does not exceed 100 million VND/system, so fishermen do not have the conditions to invest. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Quynh Luu district is a locality with a team.offshore fishing vesselsthe most in the province. However, according to information from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district, up to now, no ship owner in the district has installed a hydraulic winch system according to the State's support policy.

Nghe An is one of the localities with a strongly developed fishing industry, currently having more than 3,400 fishing vessels, of which the number of fishing vessels operating in the offshore area is 1,221. Nghe An fishermen exploit seafood mainly by: gill nets, grab nets, purse seines, drag nets and fishing.

However, most of the fishing boats in Nghe An still use mechanical friction winches in the exploitation process, manual exploitation techniques are the main ones, so it requires a lot of manpower. Meanwhile, currently, the labor force in the fishing industry in Nghe An in particular and the whole country in general is extremely scarce.

Applying hydraulic winches not only changes the habit of catching and exploiting seafood by manual methods, but also contributes to increasing productivity and value of seafood. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Chu Quoc Nam - Deputy Head of the Provincial Fisheries Sub-Department, in order to save labor, reduce net collection time, increase fishing time, improve economic efficiency... it is very necessary to apply mechanization to the seafood exploitation industry. The application of hydraulic winches not only changes the habit of catching and exploiting seafood by manual methods of fishermen, but also contributes to increasing productivity and value of seafood. Along with that, each fishing vessel reduces 2-3 crew members on the trawler when applying the hydraulic winch system, contributing to solving the current shortage of seafarers on offshore fishing vessels.

It is regrettable that up to now, no fishermen in the province have registered to install hydraulic winches under the province's support policy. It is thought that, in the difficult conditions of fishermen, the State should adjust the support level more reasonably, so that fishermen are interested in this support policy.