Supporting fishermen to go offshore

(Baonghean) - Recently, a pilot fishing union was established in Dien Bich commune, Dien Chau district with the participation of 155 workers and boat owners in the commune. This is considered a reasonable and right step, contributing significantly to helping fishermen feel secure at sea. However, this pilot model is facing difficulties and challenges.

We returned to Dien Bich commune, Dien Chau district on a day at the end of December. The weather was sunny but the wind was bitterly cold. The sea was rough. Along the road from National Highway 1A bridge down to Dien Thuy bridge, houses were close together, the sound of loud music, the calls of fishermen when the sea was rough made the Dien Bich sea as bustling as a festival. In every corner of the typical coastal area, everywhere you could see groups and groups of fishing friends sitting around chatting, sipping tea, and smoking cigarettes to "kill" time. In the conversation, over a pot of tea of ​​Dien Bich commune fishermen these days, they all talked a lot about the two words "Union". When asked, we learned that on December 20, Dien Bich commune's Fisheries Union was officially launched with the participation of 155 workers working on fishing boats. This is the first Fisheries Union, piloted by the Provincial Labor Federation and Dien Chau district.

Boat owners in Dien Bich commune, Dien Chau district discuss activities of the Fisheries Union.

Just talking about the Union, Mr. Thai Ba Minh (40 years old) stopped his fun card game with some other fishing boat owners in Quyet Tien village and led us to Dien Kim sea channel. Different from the bustling atmosphere in the village, below the foot of Dien Kim bridge, where dozens of fishing boats are anchored, there is an unusually quiet atmosphere. Pointing at his blue 180 horsepower fishing boat, Mr. Minh confided that he had followed his father to sea since he was 12 years old and officially became a captain when he was not yet 20 years old, but he and his fellow workers found that the weather at sea was becoming more and more complicated. Big waves, unusually strong winds, storms, cold air no longer follow the rules of time, wind direction and moon direction like before. "You see, for nearly 2 months now, the sea has always been rough, from super storms to low pressure and then the cold air has increased. The waves keep hitting people's heads, no one dares to go out to sea and has to anchor their boats at home," Mr. Minh sighed in frustration.

The complexity of the weather and climate at sea has made experienced fishermen like Mr. Minh worried, so when there was a policy to establish a Fisheries Union, he was the first to enthusiastically register and mobilize the crew members working on his ship to join. Although he did not know what the Union would do, Mr. Minh and the ship owner Nguyen Truc Giang both felt excited. According to them, when standing together in the Union, it means that the members must be responsible for each other, supporting each other in the process of fishing and exploiting seafood at sea. In particular, whenever a friend's ship encounters danger, storms, or whirlwinds, other ships have the responsibility to participate in rescue and relief with the spirit of helping friends is helping themselves. "When standing together in the Union, under the management of a collective, we hope to live in a family. Sharing joys and sorrows, helping each other stick to the sea, going offshore, and getting rich legitimately", Captain Nguyen Truc Giang confided.

According to regulations, when joining a trade union, in addition to their rights and obligations under the Trade Union Law and helping each other in the process of labor, production at sea as well as rescue work, union members also hope that this is an opportunity for them to receive preferential policies and mechanisms in the process of borrowing capital for production; to jointly decide on the output price without being forced down by traders as much as before. In particular, many union members in Dien Bich commune believe and hope that everyone will unite together to fight against the intrusion and aggression of strange ships that are increasingly appearing in our country's waters. Furthermore, they hope that, with the support of the Union Executive Committee and the cooperation of functional agencies, they will have the opportunity to reach out to the common fishing grounds, to rich international fishing grounds and master the vast East Sea of ​​the country.

Fishing boats of Dien Bich Commune Fishing Union are anchored at Dien Kim creek waiting to go out to sea.

Mr. Thach Dinh Nghia, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and Chairman of the Dien Bich Commune Fisheries Union, said that the establishment of the Union was implemented from the beginning of September 2013. After many meetings and propaganda sessions, many people wrote applications to join the Union. Dien Bich Commune has 190 boats with about 1,500 workers participating in fishing at sea. The boats have a capacity of 20CV to 350CV, the traditional fishing grounds are the Gulf of Tonkin, the main occupation is bottom fishing and net fishing. In response to the needs of fishermen, the authorities have decided to temporarily select those working on fishing boats with a capacity of over 90CV to join the Union.

It can be affirmed that the establishment of the Fisheries Union is a right direction in Nghe An - a locality with a long coastline with more than 4,000 fishing boats and more than 19,000 workers working day and night at sea. Many other provinces and cities in Vietnam also have Fisheries Unions and have initially achieved many successes. The newly established Dien Bich Fisheries Union could be a new signal, helping people to be excited to go out to sea and stick to the sea because they have a solid collective behind them.

However, through research, we found that the Dien Bich Fisheries Union is still facing many difficulties and challenges. Mr. Thach Dinh Nghia admitted that currently, the Union does not have any source of funds to operate, in the coming time, it will certainly have to mobilize union members to contribute. Meanwhile, in Dien Bich commune, people have long participated in the Fisheries Association. These associations are formed from production groups and teams with the participation of boat owners. The fishing branches and teams all have working capital and their own funds, some teams even have funds of up to hundreds of millions of VND. Meanwhile, all members of the Fisheries Union are currently participating in teams of the Fisheries Association. When participating in both the Union and the Fisheries Association, will they encounter overlaps, difficulties in organization and funds?

Currently, the Dien Bich Commune Fisheries Union has elected an Executive Committee with 9 members, but these members do not have funding or allowances for their activities. In addition, all members of the Union are fishermen, fishing long-term, far from shore, and communicating with each other mainly through walkie-talkies and ICOMs. However, for a long time, fishermen still have the habit of hiding their profession and fishing grounds, often changing ICOM frequencies every time they go fishing to avoid revealing their fish flows, etc. This poses a significant challenge in uniting members because in order to have common communication at sea with hundreds of union members, the Union must have modern equipment. In addition, the content of the Union's activities must also be reasonable, attracting fishermen to participate together, because these are people who typically go fishing long-term at sea, only on rainy, windy, stormy, and rough sea days, do they stay home.

Mr. Pham Duc Cuong, Chairman of the Dien Chau District Labor Federation, affirmed that the pilot establishment of the Fisheries Union in Dien Bich is a right direction, a step to support fishermen to confidently go offshore and stick to the sea. However, the initial operation of the Union also encountered difficulties and challenges in terms of funding, content and time of activities, overlap between the Union and the Fisheries Association as well as the habit of hiding their profession and fishing grounds of fishermen. “Faced with these difficulties and challenges, the Dien Bich Fisheries Union really needs the cooperation, help and attention of functional agencies from the Central, provincial to district and commune levels, especially the superior trade union organization as well as other social organizations so that the Union can operate effectively, truly be a solid support for fishermen to confidently stick to the sea”.

Nguyen Khoa