The first months of 2025 have been quite favorable in terms of weather, making it easy to catch seafood near shore. However, many boats are only fishing on a limited basis due to a lack of labor, and many boat owners even have to go out to sea alone.
Fisherman Tran Van Chu on his ship is currently docked at Cua Sot port despite the peak fishing season because he has not found a partner to go to sea with - Photo: LE MINH
Meanwhile, offshore fishing boats in many localities are having to stay ashore or have had to reduce their number by half due to the inability to find workers.
The income from seafaring is unstable and hard, while going abroad to work or in industrial zones has easier work, higher income and stability, making most young people no longer interested in seafaring.
Lack of labor, ship owners have to go to sea alone
Present at the Cua Sot port boat anchorage area (Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh) in recent days, we recorded a rather gloomy atmosphere when dozens of boats were lying motionless on the shore, unable to go to sea due to a serious labor shortage.
While preparing fishing gear on the 90CV boat, Mr. Tran Van Chu (48 years old, living in Loc Ha town, Thach Ha district) sadly said that the weather has been nice these past few days, all preparations for the trip to sea have been completed, but due to the lack of crew members, his family's boat still has to stay ashore.
Mr. Chu's boat fishes for seafood using trawl nets and squid fishing 12 nautical miles from shore. Each trip requires at least four fishermen, but since Tet there has been a serious labor shortage, as his old crew members have found other jobs. Therefore, there are times when only two people have to take the boat out to sea to fish for seafood.
"This ship was supposed to be fishing offshore today, but because we couldn't find workers, I couldn't take the ship out to sea alone. There were also trips where we could find workers but not enough, so when we went out to sea, the work was very hard, and the time at sea was also shorter, causing more expenses," said Mr. Chu.
According to Mr. Chu, the shortage of seafarers is due to the unstable nature of this profession. Some trips yield big catches of seafood that can be sold at high prices, but there are also trips where the crew only makes a profit. The unstable income combined with the tiring work and frequent night shifts has caused many sailors to quit their jobs.
Boats cannot go out to sea, causing ship owners to have no income, while if boats (wooden hulls) stay on the shore for too long, barnacles and sea barnacles will quickly attach to the hull, causing damage and increasing repair and maintenance costs.
Similarly, fisherman Nguyen Van Trung (47 years old, Thach Kim commune, Thach Ha district) said that due to lack of labor, his 24CV fishing boat only had a few people on each trip. On many trips, he could not find anyone so he had to go out alone.
With no local labor source, Mr. Trung had gone to several fishing villages to recruit crew members many times but returned empty-handed. It was difficult to find young and strong crew members, while the experienced ones were old and did not want to leave their families to work far away.
"Being alone in the middle of the vast ocean is both sad and very hard work. But if we don't go to sea, we won't have any income. Many ship owners, after going to sea alone, are not in good health and have to leave their ships on shore to find workers. If this situation continues, it will be difficult for us to maintain our regular seafaring profession," said Mr. Trung.
Young people go to work abroad, old people go to sea
Explaining the reason for the lack of seafarers, Mr. Chu said that the income from seafaring is unstable, with few trips, so many people are no longer interested.
Moreover, for many years now, the opportunity to work abroad has been very large, with high incomes, so most of the young people in the village have gone abroad. Therefore, the people who still work at sea here are mainly 50 years old and above, and most of them are ship owners.
Mr. Tran Van Han - Chairman of the People's Committee of Loc Ha town (Thach Ha district) - said that recently there were times when seafood resources were scarce, fishing efficiency was low, and the cost of going to sea was high, so many people were not interested in fishing.
Meanwhile, most of the local youth go abroad to work, the young people at home can be counted on the fingers and do other jobs, so it is very difficult for fishermen to find crew members.
Mr. Pham Duy Khanh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thach Kim Commune (Thach Ha District) - said that seafood fishing has been a traditional occupation of local fishermen for hundreds of years. However, due to the lack of seafaring labor, many fishing boats have been forced to stay ashore.
In Thach Kim commune, most of the fishermen working at sea are old, while the number of young people to continue the traditional profession is very small, so the number of local boats decreases every year.
In the 2020s, the whole commune had about 110 boats, but now it has decreased to 96 boats. The number of boats has decreased mainly because people have sold them because they cannot recruit workers to go to sea.
"The source of seafaring labor is scarce because local youth grow up and choose to work abroad or go to school and then work far away.
Preliminary statistics in the locality show that there are more than 1,200 young people working abroad, not to mention a large number of people working illegally. Meanwhile, fishermen looking for workers in other localities also have difficulty because of unstable income and difficulty attracting crew members," Mr. Khanh worried.
According to Mr. Khanh, the problem of shortage of local seafaring labor is quite difficult. Because there is no next generation, the traditional profession is worried that it will gradually disappear.
Therefore, the locality as well as fishermen hope that the State will have policies and support for each trip to sea so that fishermen can feel secure at sea.
Fishermen prepare nets and fishing gear at Dong Hai fishing port (Phan Rang - Thap Cham city) before going to sea - Photo: AN ANH
Young people are no longer interested in seafaring.
On March 12, records at Hon Ro fishing port (Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa) showed that many fishing boats were still anchored at the wharf because they could not go to sea. Mr. Le Van Dung - captain of a fishing boat at Hon Ro port - said that since Tet until now, his boat has not been able to go to sea due to a lack of seafarers.
"Each sea trip takes half a month, offshore fishing requires at least 10 crew members, but I still haven't found enough people, so I have to wait to find more," said Mr. Dung. Many other fishing boats are also stuck at port due to a lack of seafaring workers.
Mr. Le Tan Ban - Chairman of Khanh Hoa Province Fisheries Association - said that the shortage of seafarers is due to the low income of fishing, local youth are no longer interested in this profession, others study and then find easier jobs in big cities, causing the local seafaring labor force to decrease.
Pay in advance to keep your crew
Mr. Pham Luu Hien - Head of Dong Hai Fishing Port Management Board (Phan Rang - Thap Cham City, Ninh Thuan) - said that the shortage of fishing boats often occurs during the peak season of the Southern fish season (April to September of the lunar calendar). This is the time when fishing boats using cast nets to catch anchovies are very profitable, with high income and they can return home in the same day, so boats flock to work.
On the contrary, fishing boats that use trawlers and trawlers to catch tuna and mackerel for long periods at sea are short of crew members. According to some fishermen in Ninh Thuan, to keep crew members, fishing boat owners have to pay an advance of 1-3 million VND/person so that they can stay at sea with peace of mind. "In addition to the income paid to crew members after each trip, on average each fishing boat has to pay an advance of 15-25 million VND to keep crew members for the next trip," said the owner of a fishing boat.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ngu-dan-do-mat-tim-ban-di-bien-20250313013043297.htm
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