Tran Van Muoi from Man Thai Ward, Son Tra District, Da Nang, decided to give up his stable job as an auto mechanic to follow his father’s offshore fishing career with an ambition of setting out trips to the national waters.

Muoi (centre) receiving life jackets prior to his offshore fishing trip

Overcoming ups and downs in life, the 41-year-old man has become one of the most famous fishermen in the city, and received high praise and respect from the local fishermen community.

In 1997, Muoi’s family dealt with an unexpected financial blow when his parents  repeatedly failed to pay their bank debt, forcing them to sell fishing vessel at a very cheap price, and this incident really made him upset.

At the end of 2006, Muoi quitted his well-paid job as an auto mechanic in order to pursue his father’s dream. At that time, with 200 million VND in savings, he borrowed 500 million VND from a local bank to build a 300CV fishing boat designed to catch squid.

After a short period, thanks to his boat’s effective operation, the strong-willed man paid off the bank debts, and his crew members also earned an average monthly income of between 8 and 10 million VND each.

Afterwards, Muoi used the money from the sale of this boat to build a 520CV one. Alongside, the number of his crew members climbed to 30 from 18, and each offshore trip lasted 70 days, in comparison with 30 as previously.

With a desire of enriching himself and his families, as well as getting actively involved in partly boosting the progress of the local fisheries, in 2011, Muoi’s risked everything to build new fishing vessel DNa 90567, the central region’s largest squid fishing boat at that time, with a capacity of 950CV.

Thanks to the high capacity of the boat, after deducting trip expenses, Muoi earned 1 billion VND from each trip, whilst his crew members were paid 50 million VND each for their involvement in a 2-month-long journey.

Following the Government Decree No 67/2014/ND-CP on incentives to support the fisheries development released on 7 July 2014, Muoi accessed a preferential bank loan to build steel-hulled vessel DNa75907 at a total cost of 17.3 billion VND.

The 822 CV, 30.8m-long, 7.5m-wide ship can operate at a maximum speed of 10 nautical miles per hour. In addition, it is capable of storing a total of dozens of tonnes of goods and seafood products.

In particular, large-capacity vessel features an over 220m³ frozen storage compartment which keeps the catches in good condition for 30 days at sea.

Despite so often having to face danger at sea such as strong winds and big waves, Muoi and other fishermen are always 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, Muoi and his crew members have become actively involved in rescuing 3 other fishing boats which were in distress at sea, and towing them back to the mainland.

In May 2018, for instance, Muoi and his crew member decided to halt their trip to rescue a distressed boat from Quang Nam Province, with a crew of 49 on board, and then safely brought all the distressed fishermen back to the mainland.

Muoi highlighted the importance of maintaining mutual support amongst offshore fishing vessels in order to make fishermen feel more secure whilst fishing in Vietnamese waters.

In recognition of his active involvement in rescue missions at sea, Muoi was voted as one of Da Nang’s 20 most outstanding citizens honoured at a grand ceremony held in December 2016 to mark the 20^th anniversary of the city’s recognition as a centrally-governed city in 1997.