Despite so often having to face danger at sea such as strong winds and big waves, Da Nang’s fishermen are strongly determined to continue fishing to earn their livings as well as to protect the country’s sacred sovereignty over its sea and islands.

Happy smile of fishermen

42-year-old fisherman Le Van Thien from Hai Chau District’s Thuan Phuoc Ward is a typical example.  Thien started to get involved in this job 25 years ago.  After getting married in 1997, he tried to save money for his dream of upgrading his existing 20-CV fishing vessel into 35 and later 56-CV ones. 

He, then, saved enough money to allow him to own new 410 and 830-CV fishing boats in 2014 and early 2017 respectively to enable him to conduct his offshore fishing trips.  These 2 high-capacity fishing vessels have helped to bring higher incomes for Mr Thien’s family, and create suitable jobs for dozens of local residents.

Chairman of the municipal Fisheries Association Tran Van Linh said that recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of high-capacity vessels serving offshore fishing trips to the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa waters.  This is mainly attributed to the issuance of Government Decree No 67/2014/ND-CP regarding fisheries development policies which allow Vietnamese fishermen to access loans for building new boats.

Chairman Linh remarked that the city is seeing a growing number of young intellectual fishermen who have great love for fishing activities.  Included are Tran Van Muoi from Son Tra District’s Man Thai Ward, Nguyen Suong from the district’s Nai Hien Dong Ward, and Le Van Sang from Hai Chau District’s Thuan Phuoc Ward.  Each of them has boldly spent up to 18 billion VND on building their own steel-hulled fishing boats.

In addition, other local fishermen have made every effort to learn advanced fishing technologies from such foreign countries as Japan and Thailand, and their valuable experience in shipbuilding and making fishing nets. 

Mr Linh, however, highlighted the importance for the city to build fishing boats specialising in a specific fishing method to catch one type of seafood.