Shortage of workers going to sea
In early March 2025, present at the Cua Sot port boat mooring area (Thach Ha district), Lao Dong Newspaper reporters recorded hundreds of boats anchored after their departure. Among them, there are dozens of ships that have been ashore for many days due to lack of labor, so they cannot go to sea.
Fisherman Tran Van Chinh (42 years old, residing in Phu Mau residential group, Loc Ha town, Thach Ha district) - owner of a 24CV fishing boat - said that the biggest difficulty for fishermen here is the serious lack of workers going to sea.
"From March 2024 until now, because I have not been able to recruit crew members, I have been going out to sea alone. Floating alone at sea is both sad and extremely tiring, but if you don't go to sea, you don't know how to survive" - Mr. Chinh shared.
According to Mr. Chinh, you must be good, brave, and endure many hardships to dare to go to sea alone on a ship, because currently, many ship owners have to leave their ships ashore and cannot go to sea due to lack of labor.
If Mr. Chinh's fishing boat can recruit workers, each trip to sea requires up to 5 workers on the boat. However, for the past year, he has had to go to sea alone as both a ship owner and the only worker on the ship.
Also because he could not recruit workers, the old fisherman Nguyen Viet Sung (67 years old, residing in Phu Mau residential group, Loc Ha town) who has owned a 24CV fishing boat to fish at sea for a long time, had only one other worker accompanying him, his wife of 64 years old. Ship owner Nguyen Van Linh (46 years old, residing in Phu Mau residential group) went to sea with a son of his.
In Thach Kim commune (Thach Ha district) next to Loc Ha town, the shortage of seafaring workers has been happening for many years. Fisherman Nguyen Van Trung (48 years old, residing in Xuan Phuong village) - said that due to lack of labor, each trip to sea, his 24CV fishing boat has only a few people. Many trips, his crew members are busy with family matters or are sick, and he has to go out to sea alone.
Setting up a fishing boat next to him, fisherman Tran Van Thai (49 years old, living in Xuan Phuong village) - shared that he could not recruit workers to accompany him, so for a long time, his fishing boat had only the couple going out to sea.
Because young people go abroad to work
Talking about the reason for the lack of workers going to sea with him, fisherman Tran Van Chinh (residing in Loc Ha town) - said that because the fishing job is unstable, flights are available, seafood resources are increasingly scarce, and income is unstable, many people are no longer interested in the fishing job. In particular, recently, most young people have grown up exporting labor, so there is a shortage of young workers going to sea.
Fisherman Tran Van Thai (residing in Thach Kim commune) also affirmed that the main reason for the shortage of workers going to sea is that the younger generation grew up mainly working abroad, while others went to learn a trade, worked as workers and did not want to go to sea because it was hard and dangerous.
Mr. Tran Van Han - Chairman of Loc Ha Town People's Committee - said that the total number of fishing vessels in the locality is currently 77, of which 32 have a capacity of over 90CV. According to Mr. Han, on average each fishing boat needs 5-6 workers to go to sea together. However, in recent times, there have been times when seafood resources are scarce, fishing efficiency is low, and costs are high, so many people are not interested in the fishing profession. In particular, the shortage of workers going to sea is due to local children growing up mainly going to work abroad for higher and more stable income.
