Boats full of fish, why are fishermen still not making a profit?

On the morning of June 29, dozens of large-capacity fishing boats of fishermenQuynh Luu districtdocking at Lach Quen fishing port. Most fishing boats have been fishing continuously for 7-10 days at sea, and are now returning home for the holidays. Although all boats are full of fish, fishermen say they are still losing money because this season they are mainly small fish (commonly called stork fish by fishermen) with low value.

Fisherman Truong Van Thach in Tien Thuy commune held a fishing logbook and reported to the fishing port management board that after 7 days of fishing at sea, his boat brought back 6 tons of various types of fish. This yield is less than previous fishing trips. But what is more sad is that most of themseafoodThe catch on this trip was trash fish, traders bought it at a cheap price.

Of the 6 tons of seafood, there were 5 tons of miscellaneous fish, the rest were a little dried squid, spotted fish, mackerel... The miscellaneous fish was purchased by traders at 8,000 VND/kg, which was 40 million VND, and the other types of fish and squid were estimated at about 60 million VND, so the total revenue for this trip was about 100 million VND. Compared to the expenses for the trip: fuel, ice, food, provisions... serving 7 crew members, it was not enough.

A fisherman, the owner of fishing boat NA 91789 TS in Quynh Nghia commune, said that this trip caught nearly 10 tons of seafood. However, there were 7 tons of miscellaneous fish, the remaining 2 tons of spotted fish, mackerel and a little squid. The spotted fish sold for 14,000 VND/kg, the mackerel was priced at 20,000 VND/kg. Thus, this trip earned about 120 million VND, minus all expenses.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luong, a seafood trader, said that during this time, the seafood caught by fishermen is mainly trash fish, with a small portion being mackerel, spotted fish, squid... For us traders, we buy all kinds of fish for people. High-value seafood is supplied to freezing facilities; trash fish like this is supplied to fishmeal production facilities, as raw materials for animal feed factories.

However, for fishermen, trash fish has low economic value. Now 8,000 VND/kg is high, while before it was only 6,000 - 7,000 VND/kg.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Dong - Manager of Lach Quen Fishing Port, as one of the major fishing ports in the province, every full moon holiday, hundreds of large-capacity fishing vessels arrive at the port. Unlike other trips, which mostly consist of high-value seafood, this trip has up to 70% of the seafood output being miscellaneous fish. Normally, on the 12th day of the lunar month, fishermen return to the fishing port to rest for about 5-7 days, then continue to go out to sea to fish./.