Nghe An fishermen flexibly respond to soaring fuel prices

With favorable weather, fishermen from coastal areas are busy going out to sea again. However, due to the difficulties, income from fishing trips has decreased sharply. Photo: Thanh Phuc

During this time, when the weather is favorable, hundreds of fishing boatsfishermen of Quynh Luu districthave gone out to sea to exploit seafood at the beginning of the year. Although the price of gasoline has been continuously increasing in recent days, affecting the income of fishermen, the boats cannot be left on shore and the crew members are unemployed. The boat owners still go out to sea, flexibly looking for ways to increase the value of their catches.

Luckily, I met fisherman Nguyen Van Hoang - Captain of fishing boat NA 932.68 in Quynh Long commune (Quynh Luu) when he and his crew were preparing to set sail. He said that his boat has an engine capacity of over 700 CV, each trip out to sea lasts from 7 to 9 days and requires more than 1,000 liters of oil, plus the cost of oil and grease is from 30 to 35 million VND/trip.

Since the price of oil has increased, other costs have also increased, causing each sea trip to cost 7-10 million VND. During the Nam fishing season, which requires a lot of light, fuel costs can reach nearly 100 million VND.

The high price of gasoline has also led to an increase in the price of fishing logistics services, and ice has also increased rapidly. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Faced with difficult fishing conditions due to high fuel prices, fisherman Nguyen Van Hoang discussed with 5 ship owners in the seafood exploitation group to support each other at sea. When the fishing boats have products, they will arrange for 1 ship to carry seafood from 4 other ships back to shore for sale, then they will support each other with fuel costs to both provide fresh seafood in a timely manner and save fuel for the remaining ships.

In addition to supporting each other at sea, fishing boats will, depending on geographical conditions, enter fishing ports in nearby provinces to sell seafood instead of returning to local fishing ports, helping to save costs. At the same time, according to local fishermen, if fuel prices continue to rise, they will sell seafood directly at sea to service boats in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, etc. to continue fishing instead of returning to port.

Mr. Vu Ngoc Chat - Chairman of the Fisheries Association of Quynh Long Commune (Quynh Luu) said: "The whole commune has 130 offshore fishing vessels, each with a capacity of over 700 CV. In difficult fishing conditions, the seafood exploitation vessel group will play a very important role in supporting fishing grounds as well as consuming products for each other. Currently, the whole commune has 10 groups of vessels, each group consists of 5 vessels. The groups will arrange vessels to carry products of other vessels back to shore for seafood sale, instead of all vessels returning to shore at the same time as before, thereby reducing travel costs".

Quynh Luu district currently has nearly 1,200 fishing vessels, of which more than 700 are offshore fishing vessels. Each offshore trip costs about 70 - 100 million VND in fuel (if using a lot of light bulbs for fishing). Therefore, for each offshore trip, the boat owners calculate very carefully to avoid losing fuel and have a source of income.

Focusing on exploiting valuable seafood is also a method that fishermen apply to increase the efficiency of their sea trips. Photo: Thanh Phuc

During the time of high oil prices, supporting each other at sea to ensure the quality of fresh seafood is extremely important, determining the value of each trip. Currently, offshore fishing vessels of fishermen are all invested in modern seafood storage tanks at sea. Each vessel has an average of 7-9 seafood storage tanks with an investment cost of nearly 1 billion VND. The tanks are built using the insulation method using PU foam material, thanks to which the fish is better preserved than the traditional preservation method as before, contributing to increasing the value.

Mr. Bui Xuan Truc - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district

Nghi Hai ward (Cua Lo town) currently has 72 fishing boats and seafood exploitation vessels. Of these, there are 2 offshore fishing boats, 52 offshore fishing boats, 18 nearshore fishing boats with 300 workers working at sea. In the context of the cost of each trip increasing significantly, market prices constantly fluctuating and the catch yield no longer reaching the previous level, the role of the boat association group is maximized.

After catching a fair amount of seafood, the fishing boats will transfer to one ship to transport it to shore for sale. Then, refuel the remaining boats to extend the fishing time at sea, reducing fuel costs. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong (Binh Quang block, Nghi Hai ward), Team leadership connectorNghi Hai ward said: “The joint team has 17 participating boat teams. In addition to supporting each other when there are “big waves and strong winds” at sea, the members of the team are responsible for informing each other about fishing grounds to fish together and exploit more effectively. When the boats in the team catch a certain amount of seafood, they will move to one boat. This boat carries fish back to shore for consumption and carries food and provisions for the remaining boats to continue fishing. This method saves a significant amount of fuel, prolongs fishing time at sea, and increases exploitation output.”

Besides,Nghi Hai ward authorities have regularly coordinated with the Fisheries Sub-Department to provide fishing grounds; paid attention to supporting loans for people to upgrade boats and convert fishing gear to increase fishing efficiency; continued to establish cooperative groups for fishing at sea; promoted fishing logistics activities to increase the value of caught products.

One of the long-term, sustainable solutions is to invest in processing to increase the value of seafood after exploitation. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The general rule is that if input costs increase, production efficiency will decrease and income will be low. Therefore, to fish effectively, fishermen need to find ways to increase output. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to applying technologies such as using LED lights, fish detectors; promoting the role of boat association groups; sharing fishing grounds; improving product quality by changing preservation methods...