Responding to the petition of Hoang Mai town voters regarding the delay in supporting fuel money for fishermen according to the policy of offshore exploitation

Reply:

In recent times, the Provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and the Fisheries Sub-Department have actively made efforts to create the most favorable conditions for fishermen to feel secure at sea, improve their economic life and contribute to protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

In 2022, Nghe An Fisheries Sub-Department received 340 sets of documents/338 vessels. However, the progress of support work according to Decision No. 48/2010/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on a number of policies to encourage and support exploitation, aquaculture and seafood exploitation services in offshore areas (offshore fishing policy) is still slow, due to:

+ The records are not yet complete and accurate according to regulations, there are still cases of erasures, errors, omissions... forcing to supplement many times; The journey monitoring device lost connection signal at sea, some messages between the VX1700 device and VMS are not consistent; the fishing log does not have a number entered into the fishing port book, the fishing log records no output due to broken nets, affected by monsoon winds, no fishing... so it takes time to verify and clarify from different departments, branches, even from the Border Guard forces of other provinces.

Bustling Quynh Phuong fishing port, Hoang Mai town. Photo: Ho Long

+ A number of new regulations will take effect in 2022. Although they have been implemented and propaganda work has been stepped up, ship owners and captains have not yet grasped them in time to implement them effectively.

Specifically, on January 18, 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No. 01/2022/TT-BNNPTNT amending a number of Circulars in the field of fisheries, effective from March 4, 2022. Accordingly, a new fishing vessel crew register form was issued and regulations were issued for the Fishing Port Management Board to confirm in the Register when the vessel enters to load and unload goods and aquatic products.

However, there are many cases without confirmation from the Fishing Port Management Board, which has caused difficulties in the appraisal of support application files and prolonged the appraisal time.

+ Some communes and wards are slow in publicly posting the list of fishing vessels expected to receive support locally and sending the results to the Department of Fisheries.

In addition, the public posting of the list of fishing vessels expected to request support after the second round of appraisal results in 2022 is 15 working days, coinciding with the Lunar New Year holiday, thus extending the time for disbursement of support to vessel owners.

+ The process of support, list approval and funding allocation must go through many steps and many departments, branches and sectors, leading to a prolonged time for ship owners to receive support.

+ The members of the Appraisal Team, Sealing and Unsealing Team include many forces, departments and branches (Border Guard Command, Provincial Police, Department of Finance, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Fisheries Sub-Department, District/City People's Committee and Commune/Ward People's Committees) working on a part-time basis, so in the process of performing the tasks, they also encounter certain difficulties, causing a waste of time.

Regarding the implementation results in 2022: Up to now, there have been 2 appraisal meetings for 194 sets of documents with a proposed support amount of 68,239,258 million VND.,Currently preparing for the 3rd appraisal meeting with 60 sets of documents with an expected support amount of 19,889,300 million VND and the 4th appraisal meeting (final round) for 85 sets of documents.

The plan in the first quarter of 2023 will advise on completing the appraisal for fishing vessels of 2022.

Fishing boat of fishermen in Quynh Lap, Hoang Mai town. Photo: Xuan Hoang

- Some solutions have been and are being implemented:

+ Strengthen the propaganda and guidance on relevant regulations in implementing the Offshore Fishing Policy for ship owners and captains participating in offshore fishing to overcome the situation where the application for support is erased, incorrect, or missing; the voyage monitoring device loses connection signal at sea, the fishing log does not have a number in the fishing port book, the fishing log does not record output due to broken nets, or is not exploited due to the monsoon... forcing the application to be supplemented many times and requiring verification time from agencies, departments, and branches.

+ Provide relevant forms to the People's Committees of communes and wards with fishing vessels participating in offshore exploitation; provide detailed instructions on the application forms to fishing vessel owners during the conversation hours, directly at the facility during the process of sealing or checking and unsealing the VX-1700 equipment and directly at the Shore Station.

+ Advise the Appraisal Team to divide the application review into many rounds during the year to promptly support fishermen.

+ Advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 597/QD-UBND dated November 25, 2022 on strengthening the Team for appraising dossiers requesting support under the Offshore Fishing Policy; advise the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to issue Decision No. 61/QD-SNN dated July 8, 2022 on strengthening the team assisting the Team for appraising dossiers requesting support under the Offshore Fishing Policy.

+ Promulgate the Procedure for supporting fishermen in exploiting, cultivating seafood and providing seafood exploitation services in offshore areas from 2023, replacing the old Procedure issued on December 13, 2021.