Nghe An: Sharp reduction in newly built fishing boats
(Baonghean.vn) - Due to the reduction of shipbuilding support policies and difficulties in fishing, the construction of new boats in Nghe An is decreasing sharply. While 132 new boats were built in 2017, in 2018, the number of new fishing boats built by Nghe An fishermen was only 34.
Previously, on average, each year a shipbuilding enterprise in Vinh City built 15 new ships, mainly with a capacity of 400CV or more, but from the beginning of 2018 until now, only 1 new ship has been built, many workers are unemployed. The machinery infrastructure is capable of building large-capacity ships, but now it is only used to repair old ships and do civil carpentry.
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| In 2017, Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) built 10 new offshore ships, but this year no new ships were built. In the photo: New ship building at a facility in the commune. Photo: Viet Phuong |
Many shipbuilding facilities in Quynh Luu district are in a similar situation, with operations sluggish, only maintaining a few groups of workers to repair boats for fishermen, revenue has decreased, and many facilities have fallen into debt.
In Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) - one of the communes famous for its boat building profession, in 2018, the whole commune has not built any new ships, while last year the commune built 10 new offshore ships.
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| Quynh Luu fishermen after a long sea trip. Photo by Viet Phuong |
According to statistics from the Department of Fisheries, in 2017, the whole province had 132 newly built fishing boats, but in 2018 there were only 34. The reason for the sharp decrease in the number of newly built boats in 2018 compared to 2017 was due to the low efficiency of fishing in 2018, most of the boats were at a loss, especially the boats using trawl nets and bottom trawls, with some boats losing from 300 to 500 million VND.
The leader of the Fisheries Department also said that this situation is happening nationwide, not just in Nghe An. In 2017, there were many ships built under Decree 67, but by 2018 there was no longer any support policy, so the number of newly built ships decreased sharply.
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| Fishermen prepare to set sail on boats 67 at Lach Quen fishing port. Photo: Viet Phuong |
Currently, the total number of fishing vessels in the province is 3,523; total capacity is 650,706 CV. The average capacity is 184.70 CV/vessel, compared to the same period in 2017 by 117.28%. For vessels >90 CV, the total number of vessels is 1,433, equal to 99.58% of the planned target. Currently, the total number of fishing workers in the province is 18,097 people. Of which, the number of offshore workers is 14,482 people.