During the fishing season, Khanh Hoa ship owners worry about lacking "friends".

It's the beginning of the fishing season at sea, but many ship owners in Khanh Hoa are struggling to find workers for long fishing trips.

According to the reporter, in the Hon Ro fishing port area, Phuoc Dong commune, Nha Trang city (Khanh Hoa), in recent days, ship owners have had to run around looking for friends (crew members) to go fishing at sea. The ship owners all complained that finding friends was easy in the past due to low investment costs and most of the trips were profitable.

Ship owners at Hon Ro, Phuoc Dong commune, Nha Trang are lacking labor. Photo: Cong Tam

However, finding crew members is becoming more and more difficult these days because crew members have low incomes, leading to workers looking for other jobs to make a living.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa (a boat owner in Vinh Phuoc ward, Nha Trang) said: "A few years ago, no one worried about the lack of crew members because the income of the crew was quite good. But now going to sea is extremely difficult, fishing boats are making a living more and more difficult, many of the crew members who used to go there before have changed jobs to live on shore or the crew members go on trips to other provinces with higher incomes."

The exploitation, fishing and seafood processing industry always attracts workers, but currently this labor source is seriously lacking. Photo: Cong Tam

While struggling to repair the ship to prepare for the trip, Mr. Le Minh (Vinh Truong ward, Nha Trang) said: "My family had to go to other districts to find friends to go to sea, and we tried very hard to find only 5 seafarers. Meanwhile, my family's sea trip needs 7-10 workers."

The fishing trip was both offshore and docked at Hon Ro port, Phuoc Dong.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ba ​​- Head of Hon Ro Fishing Port Management Board, Nha Trang said that ship owners often lack crew members because each tuna fishing trip requires 4-5 workers, trawling requires over 10 workers and purse seine requires about 10 workers.

According to Mr. Ba, although fish prices have increased slightly in recent days, ships docking at port are lacking crew members to go on long fishing trips.

With fishing and seafood processing, each year it creates jobs for thousands of workers.

It is known that every year, the seafood exploitation industry of Khanh Hoa province contributes significantly to the seafood export turnover (about 600 million USD/year) and creates jobs for over 30,000 workers.

Currently, the province has a total of 3,448 vessels participating in seafood exploitation, of which 1,909 vessels operate inshore (accounting for 55.4%), 791 vessels operate in offshore areas (accounting for 22.9%); and 748 vessels operate in offshore areas (accounting for 21.7%).

The number of fishing boats is mainly concentrated in coastal areas. Of these, there are 297 trawlers, 1,470 gillnets, 272 purse seines, 611 longline boats, 24 squid fishing boats, 134 logistics boats and 640 other boats.

Source: https://danviet.vn/vao-mua-khai-thac-danh-bat-thuy-san-chu-tau-khanh-hoa-lo-thieu-ban-20250330091353827.htm