Heading south to prevent IUU fishing: Meeting Binh Dinh’s ‘fishermen in exile’

In search of fishing grounds with abundant resources

In order to meet fishermen who have not had their ships returned to their locality for a long time, the Binh Dinh interdisciplinary mission must choose the 7th lunar month to make a trip to the south journey and meet fishermen. The goal is to raise awareness and mobilize people to "say no" to fishing activities infringing on foreign waters. This is the time when fishing vessels come ashore to sell their harvest.

The first destination of the Binh Dinh interdisciplinary mission is Ba Ria - Vung Tau where more than 1,000 fishing vessels of Binh Dinh fishermen regularly use fishing ports as a "dwelling place" for marine activities. The Binh Dinh interdisciplinary mission and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development decided to hold a meeting with the “fishermen in exile”.

Most of the fishing boats violated the waters and were captured by foreign countries in the past time all departed from here, so I thought that the people would not come to attend the meeting because of guilt. And to my surprise, hundreds of fishermen came and filled the whole hall, eagerly waiting for the working session of the two provinces’ functional departments.

In Ben Dinh (Vung Tau City), the majority of fishermen we met were in Phu Cat district, mostly coming from Cat Minh commune. When asked about the reason they choose Vung Tau as a place to reside and work, the fishermen said that aquatic resources of the fishing grounds in the outer sea were increasingly depleted, so they came to Vung Tau to facilitate fishing in fishing grounds in the Southeast, where fish species are abundant.

During the fishing process, there are times a ship encounters a stream of fish that follow the water from Vietnam's waters to foreign waters. And due to their greed for the catch, Vietnamese fishermen's ships chased after them, thus violating foreign waters without knowing. “There are still many ship owners who send their ships to foreign waters on their own accord to gain higher output. The Southeast sea borders Malaysia and Indonesia, so the fishing boats of Binh Dinh fishermen are often detained by the maritime law enforcement forces of these two countries,” the fishermen said.

“Fishermen in exile” and a life of hardships

Upon arrival at the anchorage point in Tan Long ward (My Tho city, Tien Giang), we saw dozens of fishing boats having Binh Dinh sea control plates anchored close together. Tien Giang fisheries officials said that this was the time when fishing boats constantly come ashore as it is the moon season.

Hopping on the fishing boat BD 96927 TS (450CV), we met Captain Do Van Trinh, a 44 years old fisherman in Hoai Huong ward (Hoai Nhon town) and his wife who is cleaning the deck with a craftsman. Trinh said that the owner of the ship BD 96921 TS was fisherman Ly Hoai Si in Hoai Thanh ward (Hoai Nhon town), Trinh is one of three partners who took part in making this fishing boat.

Also according to Trinh, most Binh Dinh fishermen who follow the ships to Tien Giang to operate rent a room to temporarily stay during the days when the ship is anchored after each trip. The well-off ones rent a room with air conditioner for VND 1 million/week, and those with less money rent a room without air conditioning for VND 500 - 700 thousand/week.

In the rainy and stormy season, the ship cannot go fishing, so shipowners would carry the net back to their hometown to hire people to repatch the net and prepare for the next year's fishing season. Shipowners normally hire someone to look after the fishing boat which is anchored at Tan Long wharf at that time. They have to pay VND 2.5 million each month, and after New Year's Eve, they will begin their sea voyage, marking the beginning of a new year.

“Most of a fisherman's life is at sea. If you fish near your hometown, you can see your wife and kids until the ship starts a new voyage. If you fish far from home, you have to accept the reunion with your wife and children in a faraway land. It's hard and inconvenient, but seafarers have to accept it because of business. When we come to a foreign land we are only concerned about doing business. We don't dare to think about violating foreign waters,” said Captain Trinh of fishing boat BD 96927 TS.