Fishing boats stranded on shore… due to size regulations
Fisherman To Van Duy, in Tam Quan Bac ward, Hoai Nhon town, Binh Dinh province, deputy captain of fishing boat BD-99045-TS, said that Vietnam's fishing grounds are increasingly depleted, while regulations only sell fish with a size of 50cm (equivalent to a weight of 2kg) or more, causing difficulties for fishermen.
"If fishing meets standards, all nets must be replaced with new ones, which costs more than a billion VND. However, the important thing now is that there are not many tuna that meet the required standards to be exploited. If we pull up the net now, the fish that are not 50cm long will be dumped back into the sea. Fishermen are in a very difficult situation," said fisherman Duy.
Binh Dinh fishermen bring tuna back to shore after a trip at sea. Photo: QN.
Meanwhile, with nearly 30 years of experience in the fishing industry, fisherman Tran Nhi (56 years old, in Tam Quan Bac ward, Hoai Nhon town), captain of fishing boat BD-98405-TS, was surprised by the somewhat unrealistic regulation for fishermen directly exploiting aquatic products at sea.
"Tuna measuring 50cm or more are now very rare, while the cost of a sea trip is about 300 million VND, not including the salary for the crew.
The trip lasts more than a month, if lucky, you can catch 20-30 tons, but the fish that meet the standards for sale are only 2-3 quintals. With the current price of tuna at 10,000-11,000 VND/kg, how can fishermen dare to go out to sea and stay at sea?", Mr. Nhi said.
Fisherman Tran Nhi hopes that the relevant authorities will soon recommend that the Government adjust the regulations accordingly.
At Quy Nhon Fishing Port (Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh), dozens of fishing boats fishing for skipjack tuna (striped tuna, melon fish) are lined up and anchored at the port. Meanwhile, according to local fishermen, from July to November is the peak time for skipjack tuna fishing.
According to many fishermen in Binh Dinh, tuna measuring 50cm or more are very rare in fishing grounds now. Photo: QN.
Proposal to review the regulation on minimum size allowed for exploitation of skipjack tuna
According to the Department of Fisheries of Binh Dinh province, the whole province has 6,242 registered fishing vessels with more than 40,000 workers participating in fishing, of which the purse seine fishing industry specializing in tuna fishing has about 650 fishing vessels with more than 7,500 workers.
The annual seafood output of the province reaches over 270,000 tons, of which the output of various types of tuna reaches over 55,000 tons (ocean tuna is about 12,000 tons/year).
Of the total annual output of skipjack tuna, those with a length of 50cm or more only account for about 10-15%, the rest are mainly 30-40cm long.
According to statistics, there are many tuna fishing boats that have not gone offshore, which means many workers will have no jobs and no income if this situation continues.
Fishermen are in dire straits due to regulations on the size of tuna allowed to be caught. Photo: QN.
Mr. Tran Van Phuc - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Dinh, admitted that with the regulation that skipjack tuna must be at least 50cm long to be allowed to be exploited, seafood exporting enterprises have stopped purchasing skipjack tuna with a length of less than 50cm.
Therefore, many tuna purse seine fishing vessels have to stay ashore for fear of losses, greatly affecting the aquaculture production and the lives of fishermen. Many fishermen have petitioned the government to consider this regulation.
According to Mr. Phuc, in order to preserve and sustainably develop aquatic resources without greatly affecting aquatic exploitation activities, this unit has requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to review the regulations on the minimum size allowed to exploit skipjack tuna and other aquatic species living in natural waters according to Government regulations.
Recently, the Government issued Decree No. 37 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 26/2019, detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Fisheries.
Decree 37 has many contents, including new regulations on "minimum size of tuna that can be exploited", attracting the attention of many fishermen using gillnets and purse seines.
Accordingly, Decree 37 stipulates that skipjack tuna must be at least 500mm (50cm) in size for fishermen to be allowed to catch them.
Source: https://danviet.vn/ngu-dan-binh-dinh-dau-dau-vi-quy-dinh-chi-duoc-phep-khai-thiac-ca-ngu-van-dai-tu-50cm-tro-len-20240923093604713.htm
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