Loss of revenue from fishing trips during Tet

(Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Due to low fishing output, many tuna fishing boats of fishermen in the province suffered losses after the 2025 Lunar New Year fishing season.

Since January 8, at fishing ports in the province, fishing boats have returned one after another after a period of fishing for seafood during Tet, including many tuna fishing boats. Although it is the main tuna fishing season, many fishermen shared that the 2025 Tet fishing trip was unsuccessful and did not meet expectations.

After 20 days of fishing during Tet at Hoang Sa fishing ground, fishing boat QNg 98546 TS of fisherman Tran Tan Hai, in Vinh Tuy village, Pho Chau commune (Duc Pho town) quickly docked at Sa Huynh fishing port to unload seafood. This time, Hai's boat only caught about 20 ocean tuna, with a yield of more than 500kg. With a selling price of 50,000 VND/kg for fish under 20kg/fish and 90-100,000 VND for fish from 30kg/fish or more, Hai's boat suffered a loss on this trip.

Tuna fishing boats dock at Sa Huynh fishing port (Duc Pho town) to sell fish after working at sea during Tet.

Mr. Hai shared that a few years ago, most of the boats caught tuna during the Tet holiday. However, this year, the catch was too low, so there were losses. The crew members accepted being away from their families and celebrating Tet at sea with the hope of catching a lot of tuna and having a high income. However, the result was a failed trip, so all the crew members were sad.

Exploiting the same fishing grounds as Mr. Hai's boat, fishing boat QNg 94669 TS of fisherman Mai Xuan Trang, in Pho Chau commune, has also docked after days of staying at sea during Tet. Having just unloaded fish at the port to sell to traders, fisherman Trang said that this Tet trip my boat caught 17 ocean tuna, estimated at about 600kg, sold for about 60 million VND, while the cost for the trip was 100 million VND. "Only boats that catch more than 30 ocean tuna are considered profitable, less than 30 are considered to be breaking even or at a loss. No Tet trip has ever been as unsuccessful as this year," Mr. Trang said sadly.

According to fishermen's experience, the time before and during Tet is the time when it is easy to catch high-value seafood and the selling price is higher than other times of the year, so many boats boldly go out to sea to celebrate Tet at sea. However, according to initial statistics from fishing ports in the province, most of the fishing boats that stay at sea during Tet to catch ocean tuna are ineffective. Most of the boats only achieve a yield of 500kg - 650kg of ocean tuna.

According to the provincial Fisheries Department, during the Lunar New Year 2025, the whole province has 45 ships, with 247 fishermen working at sea during Tet. These ships mainly exploit seafood in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fishing grounds. Currently, most of the fishing vessels have docked to unload seafood and submit fishing logbooks. In addition to the ships docking at designated fishing ports in the province, there are also many ships docking at ports outside the province.

Article and photos: AN NHIEN

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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/kinh-te/bien-kinh-te-bien/202502/that-thu-phien-bien-xuyen-tet-1491634/