“Start over” is what Quang Ninh fishermen said to each other after storm No. 3 (Yagi). From the devastation and destruction caused by natural disasters, the spirit, momentum and results of “starting over” of Quang Ninh fishermen surprised many people. But how Quang Ninh fishermen can “start over” sustainably and minimize damage in the most unexpected events is the story that really needs attention right now.
"As long as there is skin, hair will grow, as long as there are buds, trees will sprout"
The above proverb is so true for Van Don fishermen at this time. In the central area of the province's aquaculture, right after the storm, a real "race" took place both on land and at sea. The government "raced" to inventory the damage, review support policies, to temporarily hand over the sea surface to the people, and to attract "bankers" and "floating buoys" to join hands to help the people. People raced to find floating buoys and cages that had drifted away, to salvage sunken boats, to find fish, to find labor, to find means to reinforce and build new aquaculture infrastructure, in order to release the new breed as soon as possible.
Mr. Doan Ho Nghia, Dong Xa commune, Van Don district, said: We salvaged what was left after the storm, pooled the last money of the family, mobilized more friends to support to start a new crop season. We believe that what we lost from the sea will be recovered from the sea.
Like Mr. Nghia, Mr. Nguyen Sy Binh and his wife (Ha Long commune, Van Don district) no longer have time to regret that more than 10 hectares of oyster farms that were almost ready for harvest were swept away by the storm. Instead, they are racing to release the seeds this October. Mr. Binh said: If we don't release the seeds now, we will lose our chance. Currently, the water temperature is still cool, the seeds released are easy to adapt, healthy and develop, but in about a month from now, when the water gets colder with the season, no seeds will survive, and releasing the seeds will be a failure.
Mr. Dao Van Vu, Vice Chairman of Van Don District People's Committee, said: The locality has worked closely with aquaculture farmers to overcome the consequences of the storm very early and proactively. Field inspections at sea to assess, determine and appraise the extent of damage were conducted from September 8, one day after the storm dissipated. Many conferences at all levels have been held to help people access policies as quickly as possible, including policies on debt deferral, interest rate reduction, new loans... which are what aquaculture farmers need most at this time. Van Don District is also the first locality in the province to temporarily hand over sea surface to farmers for production.
As of October 11, Van Don district has temporarily handed over sea surface to 57 cooperatives, with a total of 912 members, with a total area of about 5,500 hectares, an increase of 42% compared to before the storm. People have floated oysters on about 1,000 hectares; new seedlings have been planted on 200 hectares. Regarding fish farming, the district has restored 2,650 fish cages, reaching 50% before storm No. 3 occurred.
Along with Van Don, the pace of reproducing aquaculture at sea after the storm is taking place urgently throughout the province. Quang Yen town - where storm No. 3 plowed the sea, aquaculture people here are almost empty-handed, as of October 10, some of the first aquaculture households in Quang Yen have released seeds. The Agricultural Bank of Quang Yen town has also completed loan documents for aquaculture at sea for 16 households, with a total outstanding debt of over 16 billion VND.
In other coastal aquaculture areas such as Cam Pha, Dam Ha, Hai Ha, Mong Cai, the damage rate due to storms is about 20-50%, so the work of restoring and rebuilding production is taking place faster. In these areas, aquaculture households focus on protecting the existing aquaculture stocks, ensuring the best living environment and health for the animals; supplementing nutrients, classifying animals to have appropriate care regimes; organizing cage and net hygiene, avoiding fish from being infected with diseases from the farming environment...
Avoid doing things the old way.
The results of the recent short-term reproduction of the Quang Ninh aquaculture people show that their love, faith in the sea, determination and desire to rebuild and regain what was lost from the sea are very great. However, people are worried that if they continue to do it the old way, Quang Ninh aquaculture will still be "exposed", and aquaculture people will still face insurmountable difficulties like in the recent storm No. 3.
Mr. Vu Duc Huong, Chairman of Van Don District People's Committee, said: After the storm, many shortcomings and weaknesses from both the people and the government were exposed. While storm No. 3 took away about 3,600 billion VND from aquaculture farmers in the whole province, Van Don alone lost about 2,300 billion VND, including 1,200 aquaculture households whose net cages and rafts were broken by waves and wind, causing the loss of over 32,000 tons of seafood ready for harvest. According to current regulations, the above damages will be calculated for compensation and partly supported by current policies, but this is currently facing difficulties to the point of being almost impossible to implement.
According to Mr. Phan Thanh Nghi, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are currently many state policies to support people affected by natural disasters and epidemics. In Quang Ninh, after storm No. 3, localities and people have made great efforts to count the damage. As of October 14, 2024, through information from localities, 1,004 applications/files requesting support under Decree 02/2017/ND-CP have been received; of which: Mong Cai received 25 applications/files, Cam Pha received 126 applications/files, Van Don received 853 applications/files. The files are still under review and appraisal, and no files have received support from the Budget.
Mr. Ha Thanh Dinh, a cadastral officer of Cai Rong town, Van Don district, said: The files we have received so far do not have the commune-level authorities confirming the declaration when they started releasing the seeds. This is the second condition in Decree 02/2017/ND-CP on the policy mechanism to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics. Ms. Nguyen Thi Luyen, an officer of Tan An ward office, Quang Yen town, added: The ward and town have carefully reviewed the files requesting support for damage from aquaculture farmers and found that all of them do not meet the regulations of Decree 02, especially the first condition of the Decree that production is not contrary to planning.
It can be seen that the way of doing things based on traditional experience, lack of attention and proper assessment of legal regulations of aquaculture households as well as the laxity and subjectivity of local authorities make it difficult to implement policies to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by storm No. 3.
Towards professional approach
After storm No. 3, people were surprised when the aquaculture facility in Ha Long commune, Van Don district of HDPE Truong Phat Plastic Group Joint Stock Company quickly located and recovered its entire cage system, even though it had been swept away by the storm at sea.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, the officer in charge of Van Don farm, said: Our cage system is made of HDPE plastic, assembled from many modules, each module has a serial number and data for searching, so we quickly found the farming infrastructure, reducing the level of damage as well as helping us to quickly reproduce.
Ms. Nguyen Hai Binh, Director of Truong Phat HDPE Plastic Group Joint Stock Company, said: Truong Phat has been modernizing and technologicalizing its products, one of which is installing data for the products. In the future, Truong Phat will have cage systems that, in the event of a big storm, will automatically sink to the bottom of the sea and preserve the fish in the 3D net environment. With this technology, I think it is worth investing in if we aim for sustainable production.
Immediately after the storm, Van Don district was the first locality in the province to temporarily hand over the sea surface to aquaculture households to implement production. Mr. Ha Van Ninh, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Van Don district, said: The location and area of the sea area that the district temporarily handed over to the people is in the planning approved by the district. We built the handover plan based on the actual parameters of the farming households that were previously reviewed and took into account the inland waterway traffic system of the farming area and the carrying capacity of the farming environment. During the process of farmers implementing aquaculture at the assigned sea surface location, we will monitor and make appropriate adjustments, ensuring that any assigned location can be closed with filters, dropped with ropes, and made with scaffolding, helping farmers produce effectively.
Mr. Do Manh Ninh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Long Commune, Van Don District, added: Temporarily handing over sea surface is a way to help people feel secure in production, and also a way to help manage aquaculture more closely and in accordance with regulations, avoiding the current situation of difficulty in determining the volume of assets before and after natural disasters.
For Quang Yen town, this locality was not previously included in the province's aquaculture planning, so almost all aquaculture households in the Quang Yen sea area were farming outside, contrary to the planning. Currently, Quang Yen town has a project to develop aquaculture on the sea in Quang Yen town until 2030, with a vision to 2045, according to which 850 hectares of sea surface have been planned for aquaculture. In the context of post-storm aquaculture production reconstruction, this locality is determined to put aquaculture households in the right planning location. Along with that, Quang Yen town promotes the conversion of styrofoam buoys to HDPE buoys, considering this a prerequisite for approval into the planned aquaculture area of the town.
Mr. Nguyen Van Bac, Vice Chairman of Quang Yen Town People's Committee said: Due to many reasons, most of the aquaculture households in Quang Yen are not producing according to the planning. We have implemented solutions to bring people into planned production, in the current context, it can be considered an opportunity for Quang Yen to reproduce aquaculture in a systematic manner, in accordance with the law.
Along with the above solutions, one of the important lessons learned from Typhoon Yagi is that it is time for offshore aquaculture households to think about measures to protect their assets, including considering participating in appropriate property insurance.
It can be seen that the situation of natural disasters and epidemics is suddenly becoming more and more complicated, the implementation of production and business in general, and aquaculture at sea in particular, must be organized and in accordance with legal regulations. This is a condition for aquaculture at sea in Quang Ninh to be both managed and protected, avoiding the situation of loss and difficulty becoming more difficult as after the recent storm No. 3.
Mr. Nghiem Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, affirmed: Seriously implementing plans, processes, regulations, requirements for supplies, materials, farming facilities, initial declaration of livestock, volume, time to ensure farming complies with legal regulations and is monitored and controlled by government agencies... these are important and mandatory tasks. This not only meets compensation records in case of natural disasters and epidemics, but above all, it also ensures sustainable development, high value of aquaculture activities at sea, promotes the advantages of the sea, uses the sea to improve and enrich people's lives, and promotes the marine economic strategy of the whole province.
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