Despite the recent unfavourable weather conditions at sea, many fishermen from across the central region have been very pleased with their first safe and profitable offshore fishing trips of the 2017 Lunar New Year, thanks to their bumper catches.  This is seen as a positive sign of a year of successful fishing. 

Fishermen unloading fish from a boat’s frozen storage area

Between 6 and 13 February, dozens of fishing vessels from the central region have berthed bumper-to-bumper at Da Nang’s Tho Quang fishing wharf. 

In the early morning of Monday, the wharf saw an exciting atmosphere as the many local seafood traders were very busy buying fresh seafood from the offshore fishermen.

Captain Huynh Thu of fishing boat DNa 90412 from Lien Chieu District’s Hoa Minh Ward said that his vessel headed out to sea for its first offshore fishing trip of the new lunar year on the 6^th day of the 1^st lunar month. 

After its 10-day trip to the Hoang Sa fishing grounds, the boat has now returned to the fishing wharf.  It brought back a large catch of tuna, valued at over 200 million VND, and its crew members received over 10 million VND each.

Fisherman Nguyen Van Yen, the owner of QNg 99439 from Quang Ngai District’s Mo Duc District, said that his fishing boat left for the Hoang Sa fishing grounds 2 days before Tet, and has now returned.  He said that he felt very happy with his first profitable catch of the year - a large volume of tuna, mackerel, greater amberjack, and grouper.  After this trip, his crew members each received around 30 million VND.

It was reported that, soon after Tet, many fishing vessels from the central region headed out to sea for their first post-Tet trips to Viet Nam’s territorial waters.

Currently, many of the vessels at the wharf are busy making preparations for their next offshore trips in the hope of successful catches.

The current prices of such fish types as mackerel and tuna are nearly double the normal rates.