Why are hundreds of fishing boats in Nghe An stuck ashore in the middle of peak fishing season?

The 2017 Fisheries Law and the Government Decree set out a roadmap: vessels over 15 m in length must install voyage monitoring equipment, of which vessels over 24 m in length must complete installation of voyage monitoring equipment before July 1, 2019; tuna fishing and trawl vessels with lengths (mainly in the South Central provinces) from 15 to 24 m must complete installation before January 1, 2019; vessels with the remaining lengths of 15 m or more must complete installation before April 1, 2020.

However, ships over 15 meters long, which make up the majority in Nghe An with 1,047 ships, do not have funding for installation.

Fishermen's boats anchored at Lach Thoi, Son Hai commune for inspection. Photo: Nguyen Hai

As for the fishermen, no vessel has been fined or denied a license before, so they are still "sitting on their toes" and have not really paid attention to investing to comply with the above regulations. But in early May, fishermen in the sea of ​​Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu) began to go to the commune People's Committee to question the fact that they were not inspected by the authorities to complete the procedures for granting fishing licenses. While in reality, the fishermen refused to install the equipment, the Fisheries Department sent people to complete the procedures for inspection and licensing but did not proceed...

As of May 4, according to the Department of Fisheries, only 57% of the total of nearly 1,300 vessels over 15m in the province have voyage monitoring equipment. The fact that Son Hai commune has 175 fishing vessels whose registration has expired but has not been inspected is partly because most of the vessels over 15m in this commune have not installed monitoring equipment as required.

The above situation is not only for Son Hai people but also for fishermen in Quynh Long, Quynh Tien, Quynh Nghia communes and Quynh Phuong and Quynh Lap communes (Hoang Mai town), which are places with many fishing boats over 15 meters.

In addition, fishing vessels at sea must be painted the right color. Photo: NH

According to Article 50 of the Fisheries Law, a vessel that wants to have a license must have 8 types of documents and procedures, including confirmation of having installed a voyage monitor, so the Fisheries Department cannot violate the law.

The reason people give for not installing it is that fishing has been difficult in recent years and the price of 30 million VND/device plus satellite service fee of 300-500 thousand VND/month is too high. Besides, monitoring the journey will cause fishing boats to be fined if they enter unauthorized areas (?!)

It is known that fishing vessels 24 meters or longer without voyage monitoring equipment and fishing licenses are not allowed to go to sea and are at high risk of being punished by Vietnam's maritime authorities.

According to the Government Decree, ships over 24m long without a license will be fined from 800 million to 1 billion VND, ships over 15m long will be fined from 300-500 million VND, and even fined 500-700 million VND if they re-offend. Ships over 24m long that have installed a journey monitoring device but do not turn it on during exploitation will be fined from 300-500 million VND. If fishing in other countries' waters and are discovered by the authorities of other countries, they will be heavily fined and their ships will be confiscated.

Fishermen complete procedures before leaving the port at Lach Quen Border Guard Station. Photo: NH

Currently, the Department of Fisheries and the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district are assigning the People's Committees of localities to dialogue and explain to the people about the new regulations of the Fisheries Law. On the people's side, at the dialogue sessions, they also suggested that due to the difficulties in fishing activities, the State should extend or support fishermen with funding for installation.

Regarding the support mechanism, through research, it is known that some coastal provinces in the Central and Southern regions have mechanisms to support fishermen to install this equipment. Specifically, Binh Dinh supports 10 million VND/device, Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Binh Thuan, Da Nang... support 100% of the cost, so currently over 90% of the installation is possible. The coastal provinces in the North do not have a support mechanism, so the current installation rate is only 20-30%.

In Nghe An, the support policy in the agricultural sector according to Decision 15/QD.UB in 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee does not have regulations to support this type of equipment.

Son Hai fishermen prepare fishing gear to go out to sea. Photo: NH

Mr. Hoang Son - Vice Chairman of Son Hai Commune People's Committee said that May is the peak month for fishing, so it is necessary to create favorable conditions for people to go offshore. In the current context, the reasonable solution is for the province, district and commune to guarantee and call on equipment suppliers to organize installation for fishermen, and people must commit to pay in installments for each fishing trip or monthly.

Mr. Tran Nhu Long - Deputy Head of the Fisheries Sub-Department said: The most feasible option is to support 30-50% of the monthly satellite service fee for fishermen. The mandatory condition to enjoy the above support is that when fishing, the journey monitoring mode must be turned on regularly. If the signal is lost without objective reasons, the benefit will not be available. With this option and the current satellite fee of 300-500 thousand VND/device/month, the province will have to budget about 150-300 million VND/month to support fishermen.

In the coming time, based on the practical situation, the Department will discuss and recommend to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision.