Despite the unfavourable weather conditions, the hike in fuel prices, and China’s unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea, fishermen in Da Nang’s Son Tra District have been strongly determined to continue fishing to earn their livings as well as to protect the country’s sacred sovereignty over its sea and islands since the start of this year.

Fishing vessel DNa 90432 TS brought home 300 kilos of fish

In the midnight of 11 July, fishing boats DNa 90638 TS and DNa 90639 TS berthed at the Tho Quang fishing wharf. After a 7-day offshore fishing trip, both of them brought home a total of 10 tons of squid and fish.

Also on the same day, fishing vessel DNa 90432 TS, owned by Mrs Nguyen Thi Ha from the district’s Nai Hien Dong Ward, berthed the wharf, a few day earlier than expected due to strong winds and high waves in the sea. However, 300 kilos of fish were caught during the trip.

Mr Nguyen Khoa, the boat’s captain, remarked that this has been his 6^th offshore fishing trip since the Lunar New Year festival. Amongst, his boat made a profit of around 300 million VND each in only 3 trips. In the remaining trips, he and other crew members earned only small profits from their catches.

He hoped that the city authorities would implement fuel price stabilisation and subsidy programmes in order to facilitate fishermen to continue their fishing activities.

The Son Tra District authorities have informed local fishermen about China’s unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea which includes Viet Nam’s Hoang Sa waters and some sections of the Tonkin Gulf. The ban is being applied from 1 May to 16 August. The district government also affirmed that China’s ban is totally illegal and worthless as it seriously infringes the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

Therefore, the district authorities are encouraging local fishermen to continue maintaining their legal fishing activities, and asking them to establish groups of fishing boats to ensure the safety of fishermen whilst fishing at sea.

In addition, the district government has asked the municipal People’s Committee to partly cover the costs of building new 7 fishing boats in the locality, and allow 39 eligible fishing boats to conduct offshore fishing trips.

“From now until the end of 2018, the focus will be on encouraging fishermen to build over 400CV fishing boats, and promoting the scientific and technological applications into their fishing activities. Importance will be attached to strongly supporting fishermen at sea, and developing plans for mitigating natural disasters”,  Mr Nguyen Thanh Nam, Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee remarked.