Support level for shipbuilding for fishermen: Outdated and untimely!

(Baonghean) - In recent times, with key mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of fishing vessels, the number of large-capacity vessels has increased rapidly. However, the movement to develop offshore fleets in recent years could be stronger if there were appropriate and timely policies.

Since 2009, Nghe An province has issued many policies and mechanisms to encourage agricultural development in general and the fisheries sector in particular, including a mechanism to support interest rates for building new fishing vessels. Decision 09/2009, Decision 10/2010 and Decision 09/2012 of the Provincial People's Committee all have one thing in common: supporting interest rates for owners of fishing vessels. The maximum support level is 54 million according to the capacity of the vessel's engine. According to Mr. Nguyen Chi Luong, Head of the Department of Fisheries Resources Protection, before 2009, to encourage fishermen to develop fishing vessels with large engine capacity, to go offshore with two purposes: reducing the load for offshore and coastal areas to protect increasingly depleted fisheries resources and protect the territorial waters of the Fatherland, the fisheries sector has advised the province to issue a mechanism to support interest rates for building new vessels for fishermen.

At that time, newly built ships with a capacity of over 200 CV were very rare. Calculating the cost of building ships, buying engines, and loan interest rates, the industry advised a maximum support level of 54 million VND. Up to now, after 5 years and 3 times of supplementing policy mechanisms, the support level remains the same. According to feedback, loan interest rates have changed annually in an upward direction, so this support level is not appropriate. Now, building ships under 300 CV has become outdated for the profession, so fishermen all build ships with engine capacity of over 300 CV. The cost of building a new ship over 300 CV is currently from 4-5 billion VND depending on the profession, while ships with engine capacity of 700-800 CV cost up to tens of billions of VND. Through research in localities, most of the shipbuilding costs have to be borrowed from many different sources. Fishermen's capital can only meet 1/4 of the demand at most. Compared to the cost and monthly interest rate, the maximum support mechanism of 54 million is too "small" compared to reality. Therefore, many fishermen hope for a change in the upward direction to reduce part of the burden of bank loan interest rates.

On the other hand, in recent years, the support sources have not been timely. In 2010, 2011, 2013, the number of newly built vessels in the whole province was 192. The total support level according to Decision 09/2012/QD-UBND is more than 8.3 billion VND. The State has only paid fishermen more than 3.49 billion VND, and arranged capital to pay in 2014 is 2.5 billion VND. The amount of money that has not been paid to fishermen (or in other words, debt) is 2.46 billion VND. Only in 2012 was the number of newly built vessels completely paid because in 2012, the number of newly built vessels was small, so the annual budget was enough to cover the payment. The delay in interest support has caused many difficulties for fishermen, leading to a loss of confidence in the issued policy.

Mr. Ho Chat in Hamlet 3, Quynh Nghia - Quynh Luu said that in 2011, he and 9 colleagues joined forces to build a new fishing boat with a capacity of 580 CV, with a total cost of more than 4 billion VND. The amount of money borrowed from everyone was only 1 billion, the rest had to be mortgaged to borrow 3 billion VND from the bank. Knowing that there was a support mechanism, he completed the procedures 3 years ago, but still has not received the money. According to him, this is too late, he and everyone hope to receive an interest rate support to pay off part of the bank debt, to reduce the pressure. On the other hand, he also hopes that the support level will be calculated and changed according to the annual bank interest rate. For example, in 2010, the loan interest rate was 1.6% per month, in 2011 it was 1.9% per month.

Sharing the same sentiment with Mr. Chat is Mr. Nguyen Chien in Tien Thuy - Quynh Luu. In 2011, he and his friends built a 480 CV boat to do 4 sao fishing. Up to now, he has not received the interest support. According to him, this is too slow, losing all the meaning of the support. He is also hoping to receive that support soon to partly solve the difficulties in life of him and his colleagues.

Discussing these issues with Mr. Tran Huu Tien, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, he admitted that supporting fishermen to build new fishing vessels according to Decision 09 of the Provincial People's Committee is "outdated and untimely". According to him, because of the importance of the offshore policy, interest rate support must be replaced with support for new construction and the support level must be increased many times compared to the present. Only then can fishermen be encouraged to invest in offshore.

Mr. Tuan