On Tuesday, the owners of 55 fishing boats from Da Nang received 50 million VND each, along with coracles worth 6.2 million VND each, from representatives of the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper.  The donated money came from nationwide readers of the newspaper.  These significant donations are providing great encouragement to local fishermen to continue their fishing in Viet Nam’s territorial waters during the current difficulties.

The authorised Chairman of the municipal Fishery Association, Mr Tran Van Linh, remarked that over recent days the city’s politicians, along with generous donors at home and abroad, have stood side by side with local fishermen.

Local fishing boat owners receiving donations

He added that many local fishermen are currently in desperate need of preferential loans to increase the capacity of their offshore fishing boats.  Then they will be better able to withstand the destructive power of storms at sea, and the aggressive attacks by Chinese ships. 

A wooden-hulled fishing boat

Luckily, Vietnamese fishermen can enjoy the benefits of the Vietnamese government’s 10 trillion VND credit package.  Accordingly, they can access preferential loans to upgrade their existing wooden boats or build new steel-hulled vessels for their future trips to Viet Nam’s fishing grounds.  Meanwhile, the Director of the city’s branch of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), Mr Vo Minh, said that his unit is waiting for official guidance from the SBV about the package.