Strengthening fishermen to protect sovereignty over sea

Installing GPS receivers free

With more than 100 kilometers long coastline along with hundreds of thousands of square kilometer of fishing grounds, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is the province with great potential for marine farming and fishery catches.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau now has a fleet of more than 6,700 fishing vessels with a total energy power of 475 CV of which there are 2,500 vessels catching fish offshore. Besides, Ba Ria- Vung Tau is also a destination for fishing boats from other coastal provinces.

According to veteran fishermen here, soaring petrol and diesel prices triggered by the coronavirus pandemic have impacted on fishing activities in the province.

After inspecting and researching thoroughly, Ba Ria - Vung Tau authorities decided to choose something ground-breaking to remove difficulties, focusing on improving the quality of service fishing fleets which help fishermen transport the catches to the shore and provide them with food, ice and other necessities during their fishing trips; thereby reducing costs for fishermen.

According to Le Van Khang, Chairman of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Fishery Association, Ba Ria - Vung Tau authorities planned to modernize the fleet of fishing vessels to meet the requirements of long sea journeys. The local fishermen felt inspired as knowing that 270 local fishing vessels here will be installed GPS receivers free.

Huynh Minh Chi, owner of the fishing vessels No.BV9739TS living in Ward No.3 (Vung Tau City) excitedly said: "If we, fishermen are funded to install GPS receivers on the fishing boats, I strongly believe these devices will be brought into play. We will feel safer while fishing offshore”.

According to technical experts, with GPS receiver installation, it's easy for fishermen to get information about weather like rains, storms to proactively find shelters. Besides, the device helps fishermen quickly contact and inform the authorities of any violation of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in East Sea.

From now until the year-end, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is due to install 500 GPS receivers free for the local fishing vessels, maintaining interest and motivation for fishing.

Constructing more docking areas for fishing boats

In a bid to minimize risks for fishing activities, since the end of 2005, Ba Ria- Vung Tau province has carried out and expanded fishing group model to provide assistance to each other whenever they are in trouble. By that way, they can both improve economic efficiency and reduce unnecessary losses of lives and properties in cases of incidents.

So far, the province has 119 fishing groups or teams. With 75 groups (400 fishing vessels involved) Vung Tau city ranks first, followed by Long Dien with 26 group (182 vessels) and Dat Do with 9 groups (36 vessels).

Vo Van Tong, a fisherman in Phuoc Tinh commune said "Right after hearing of the model I decided to participate. I think this is the most effective fishing model because we can both save our lives and save time and costs."

Phan Thach, Chairman of Phuc Tinh Commune's People's Committee said during offshore fishing trips fishermen take turns to transport the catches to the shore and back, hence transport expenses are cut down. Besides, the fishing vessels in the team will support each other in terms of materials, equipment and human resources in urgent cases.

By mid-September, Phuoc Tinh fishermen’s catches reached 63,000 tons in total, meeting 80% of the year plan, up 4% over the same period last year.

Le Tuan Quoc, Vice Chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee said: “Thanks to mutual support, fishing teams’ catches have increased by 12% over the past time while the costs of fishing trips have reduced by nearly 8% while the quality of the catches was improved. These fishing teams have bravely reached farther and more potential fishing grounds.”

The province will continue to invest and upgrade the fishing ports, improve the capacity of supply services, logistics, processing, storage and transshipment in Con Dao Island.

With prompt support from local authorities the establishment of fishing teams or groups has strengthen the local fishermen to maintain deep-sea fishing trips. Smiles are put back on the fishermen’s faces as fishing ports here are busy and bustle with fishing vessels arriving and leaving.

“To facilitate the local fishermen to maintain offshore fishing trips the province will focus on developing infrastructure and fishery logistics services synchronously, adopting technology, digitalization and automation to fish production, catch, trade and processing. In addition, the province is speeding up the projects on the construction of docking areas for fishing vessels during storms,” Le Tuan Quoc said.