Concerns about the quality of offshore fishing vessels

(Baonghean) - The fishing industry is considered to be risky. However, because of limited state support and low public awareness, ensuring safety for fishermen and their vehicles is becoming more urgent.

Compared to coastal localities, Nghe An is considered to have the largest offshore fleet in the country. Currently, the whole province has 4,017 fishing vessels, with an average capacity of over 91CV. Of which, 1,139 vessels have a capacity of over 90CV. Implementing the policy of changing occupations, in recent years, investment to improve the quality of fishing vessels at sea has been of interest to the people. Since the beginning of the year, the whole province has built 172 new vessels and converted 121 vessels, each with a capacity of 300CV to 700CV with an investment of 2 to 5 billion VND. To support people, the Provincial People's Committee has a mechanism to support interest rates for new construction according to Decision 09 of 2012. From 2010 to 2013, the province has allocated more than 11.8 billion VND to support the construction of 198 new vessels. This is a good sign for the province's offshore fishing industry.

Offshore fishing boat of fishermen in Quynh Nghia commune (Quynh Luu).

However, despite having a large fleet, the quality of fishing boats in the province is currently limited. To reduce costs, most fishermen are installing old machines bought from Saigon. These machines are mainly from Japan, used, so when buying them, people have to spend an additional amount of money to repair and maintain them before they can operate.

Quynh Nghia and Quynh Luu communes are localities with a large fleet of vessels that regularly operate offshore. The entire commune has 99 vessels with a capacity of over 300CV, 100% of which use old engines. In recent years, Quynh Nghia residents have boldly borrowed money from banks to invest in building new vessels and increasing the capacity of new vessels, but due to lack of capital, most people buy old vessels for use. Mr. Ho Khac Huynh, an official of the commune's fisheries association, said: On average, a new vessel costs from 1.5 to 3 billion VND, while capital is limited, so it is necessary to buy old vessels for use. The limitation of old vessels is that the quality is not guaranteed, people have to spend more money to replace components, so the cost is high. In addition, due to using old vessels, the amount of oil consumed is more expensive, affecting the environment.

Mr. To Duy Chau, Hoa Dong hamlet, Quynh Nghia commune, is one of those who have been fishing since he was a child. After many years of going to sea, what Mr. Chau fears most is that the quality of fishing boats is getting worse, while the sea is getting more and more complicated, boats have to go further out to sea to catch more fish. In early 2013, his 180CV fishing boat was fishing at sea when the engine suddenly died, causing many crew members on board to panic. Immediately after that, he called the mainland for rescue measures and had to hire a fishing boat to tow it back. Seeing that the fishing boat was not safe, the maintenance cost was getting higher and higher, about 100 million VND per year, so he decided to sell the boat. He said: Seeing that the boat was not safe, I decided to sell it, borrow some more capital to build another boat with a capacity of 380CV. But due to limited capital, I could only afford to buy a used engine for more than 1 billion VND. If the government supports me more, I will be able to buy a new machine.

Every year, dozens of accidents occur at sea in the province, even when the ships have docked. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 14 accidents involving 14 vessels, causing billions of dong in damage to fishermen. In reality, accidents involving fishing vessels show that in addition to force majeure factors due to nature, most of the shipwrecks and fatalities are related to subjective human factors such as poor awareness of fishermen, poor quality of fishing vessels, and low sense of organization in labor and production at sea.

According to the recommendation of the professional agency, the hull should not be used for more than 15 years to ensure safety when going to sea. However, in many localities such as Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai, many vessels have been used since 1995 until now. Fishing at sea is considered a profession with many risks and great losses, while the number of vessels with hull insurance in the whole province accounts for less than 10%. In particular, the insurance for crew members is higher, many ship owners are still "indifferent" to the lives of their members.

In the two localities of Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai, very few boats have hull insurance. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Ke, Chairman of the Tien Thuy Commune Fisheries Association, although the government has mobilized and propagated to the people, their awareness of buying insurance is not high. Mr. Ke said: From 2010 to now, very few vehicle owners are interested in hull insurance. People think that the insurance price of 10% of the value of the boat is too high, plus the procedures are too complicated, so no one is interested. When there is damage, they are willing to bear the loss.

Fishing equipment is increasingly equipped with modern equipment such as fish finders and GPS, but people still exploit based on their own experience. Mr. Chu Quoc Nam, Deputy Head of the Department of Exploitation and Protection of Aquatic Resources, assessed: In recent years, with many sources of capital, the State has supported fishermen in building new ones, providing equipment for offshore fishing and has achieved many important results. However, many boats are still lacking equipment such as navigation lights, life buoys and many other tools.

According to regulations, a vessel must have lifebuoys, life jackets and life rafts. However, very few vessels are equipped with lifebuoys. Regarding lifebuoys, after inspection, most vessels have them, but their quality is not guaranteed due to long-term use. It is very difficult for authorities to control the quality of lifebuoys when people still buy them on the market. When an accident occurs, people do not buy hull insurance so they are not compensated, leading to many families falling into poverty.

Mr. Nam suggested that in order to improve production efficiency and develop offshore fishing fleets, and minimize the impact on coastal resources, the State should have a policy to support the construction of new ships with a capacity of 250CV or more. In addition, it is necessary to support hull insurance and crew insurance for ships with a capacity of 90CV or more to encourage these fleets to participate in exploiting distant sea areas such as Hoang Sa, Truong Sa and DK1. Currently, the funding to support interest rates for building new offshore fishing vessels in 2010 and 2011 is still lacking. Therefore, additional funding needs to be implemented quickly to continue to support people to confidently go offshore and stick to the sea.

Pham Bang