Seafood catch still stable despite high fuel prices
Source: 22-AUG-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 1
Aug 22, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM The fishery sector has managed to keep its seafood catch stable in the first half of the year at nearly 1.1 million tonnes, and the whole year's output is expected at two million tonnes despite difficulties caused by higher fuel prices, an agriculture official said.

Chu Tien Vinh, head of the agriculture ministry's Department of Aquatic Products Exploitation and Protection, told the Daily yesterday that the seafood volume this year would grow if weather conditions should be agreeable.

"If weather should be not too bad, the country will hopefully obtain the targeted seafood catching of two million tonnes as expected," Vinh said, attributing the promising output to a higher volume of tuna this year. Last year, the country obtained total output of 1.95 million tonnes of seafood.

The amount of seafood catch so far this year shows an encouraging result for the sector, especially at a time when many fishermen are facing hardship induced by the soaring price of fuel, he commented.

The government has lent a helping hand to fishermen to keep them afloat, and many have been able to continue their offshore fishing owing to financial support from the government, according to him.

The prime minister in March decided to earmark trillions of dong to support fishermen in 28 coastal provinces and cities nationwide so that they can beat the oil price hardship.

The national fishing fleet now numbers some 95,600 ships of all kinds, including some 15,000 for offshore fishing.

Vinh said that between mid-March and August 15, around 12,000 ship owners had received financial support with total disbursements of 1l5 billion dong, or nearly US$7 million.

Under the financial support policy, each ship owner should receive a lump sum of between 4 million dong and 6.5 million dong each time, and between three and five times a year depending on his ship capacity.

Bui Van Thuong, vice general secretary of Vietnam Fishing Association, told the Daily that most of the fishermen in the country started receiving financial support from the government, which enables them to set sail again.

However, Thuong said that the disbursement progress was still a little slow, and he expected that provincial governments hasten the progress so that fishermen have more favourable conditions to go fishing again.

Binh Thuan Province, which has a fleet of some 10,000 fishing boats, has disbursed financial aid to only some 1,930 ship owners totalling 99 billion dong as of August 15, said an official of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.