Offshore fishing vessels are berthed bumper-to-bumper every day at Da Nang’s Tho Quang fishing wharf after their trips to the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fishing grounds.  Many of them are from the provinces of Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa and Thua Thien-Hue. 

Fishermen often sell their seafood catches to traders at low prices at the fishing wharf.  However, end-consumers have to buy seafood at local markets and supermarkets at very much higher prices because the seafood is sold in a chain from fishermen to end-consumer usually through many intermediaries.

A fisherman weighing a tuna

Usually, the fishing boats’ owners are forced to sell their products to the local seafood traders at low prices because the traders have helped them cover the costs of their offshore fishing trips by offering interest-free loans.  The traders then sell their purchases to local seafood wholesalers at higher prices.  The wholesalers then provide the seafood to retailers at local markets and supermarkets, again after a price markup.

Owner of fishing boat DNa 9065 Dang Van T from Son Tra District’s An Hai Tay Ward said that, during the peak season, cod was being sold to local seafood traders at around 150,000 VND per kilo, whilst the price of this kind of fish at the local markets and supermarkets was about 50% higher.    

The Deputy Head of the municipal Market Management Bureau, Mr Nguyen Nho Hau, said that his bureau finds it very difficult to deal with the above-mentioned problems because traders play an important role in ensuring stable seafood supplies for local seafood processing companies.