Fishermen excitedly go offshore to catch fish in the South

Since mid-June, taking advantage of favorable weather, many fishermen in the province have gone offshore to catch fish in the southern season. This is the main fishing season of the year with a large output, and is also a time for fishermen to improve their income after a difficult period due to high oil prices.

In recent days, Dong Hai Fishing Port has been bustling with boats docking to unload seafood, refuel, and resupply supplies to prepare for offshore fishing. From early morning, the port has been bustling with fish purchasing warehouses and dozens of workers ready to welcome fishing boats back.

Fishermen of Dong Hai ward check fishing gear and prepare to go out to sea.

Having just returned from a fishing trip full of fish, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc, My Dong ward (Phan Rang - Thap Cham city) said: After Tet, I took the opportunity to paint and repair the boat, repair the machinery, invest about 300 million VND to upgrade the hold, replace the net, ensure operation for long trips. When the weather was favorable, I went out to sea twice, each trip harvested an average of about 2 tons of mackerel, tuna, and tuna. And this trip also helped him earn more than 100 million VND. Therefore, as soon as he docked to unload seafood, he refueled the boat and provided necessities to prepare for the next journey.

According to the experience of fishermen in the province, compared to the previous year's Southern fishing season, this year's weather is more favorable, and floating fish such as mackerel, anchovy, yellowstripe, squid, and cuttlefish have begun to appear. In particular, the price of oil has decreased, so the cost of the sea trip has decreased significantly. The Southern fishing season started in April, and up to now, most of the offshore fishing boats have gone offshore to exploit seafood. Not only that, in recent days, small-capacity fishing boats have also been bustling with activities in the open sea and near the shore. Many fishermen earn about 2 million VND/day from fishing during the day, helping to improve people's lives somewhat.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, since the beginning of April, the weather and fishing grounds have been more favorable, most boats have resumed fishing. Some occupations such as: trawling, purse seine, gillnet, curtain... have high catch output; groups of vessels operating in nearshore areas such as floating gillnets, diving, cage traps... have relatively stable catch output. Fishing grounds are mainly concentrated in coastal waters and offshore areas in the province, Truong Sa archipelago, DK-1 platform, Con Son island... The output of exploited aquatic products in the first 6 months of 2023 is estimated at 55,802 tons, reaching 45% of the yearly plan and increasing by 7.6% over the same period. To improve the efficiency of fishing at sea, the competent authorities encourage fishermen to increase the capacity of fishing vessels and invest in modern technology and equipment; replicate the model of united fishing teams and groups at sea to support each other during the fishing process. In particular, recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities have focused on raising awareness among fishermen in complying with legal regulations on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources, especially regulations against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Minh Thuong

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