Severe shortage of marine labor
Mr. Phan Thanh An, a fisherman in An Duc 1 quarter (Cua Tung town, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province) owns a offshore fishing boat. Previously, each trip to sea required 12-15 workers, ensuring the frequency of 5-6 trips per month. However, since the beginning of the year, due to labor shortage, his ships have only been able to operate at a few trips, and the rest have to anchor on the shore.
Not only Mr. An's fishing boat, many other fishing boats in Cua Tung town are in a similar situation. Next to Cua Tung town, many fishing boats of fishermen in Gio Linh district are lying ashore. Mr. Ho Van Hoan (Trung Giang commune, Gio Linh district) has a newly built large fishing boat according to Decree 67. To have this ship, Mr. Hoan borrowed 20 billion VND from the bank, but now it is difficult to repay the debt because he cannot go to sea.
"Currently, due to a lack of labor, my boat often has to be ashore. We are carrying a large debt, but if the ship cannot operate, we do not know what to get to pay. This is a difficult problem that we have not found a solution to" - Mr. Hoan shared.
Long- and mid-stream fishing vessels need a lot of workers, so they face difficulties due to lack of manpower. Currently, coastal waters are also experiencing this situation. Previously, a boat traveling at sea in the coastal area had three people, now there are only two, even a boat with only one person.
According to Mr. Ho Xuan Thuy, Vice Chairman of Gio Hai Commune People's Committee (Gio Linh District, Quang Tri Province), the source of marine labor is increasingly scarce because young people of working age mainly go abroad to work or go to the southern provinces to find jobs.
"Income from the local marine industry is unstable, not enough to cover living expenses, leading to an increasing shortage of human resources. We are looking for ways to propagate, mobilize and propose appropriate policies to retain workers" - Mr. Ho Xuan Thuy said.
Policies are needed to retain marine workers
In Quang Tri province, there are more than 2,500 fishing vessels, but only about 100 vessels with a length of 12-15m are capable of ensuring labor. For ships over 15m fishing offshore, the shortage of labor is very serious, many ships are almost unable to operate.
According to statistics from the authorities of Quang Tri province, to ensure marine exploitation activities, the province needs over 6,000 workers, but the current number of workers only accounts for a small part. Most fishing vessels are forced to hire workers from other provinces, causing costs to increase.
The inability of fishermen to go to sea also reduces the source of raw materials for the seafood processing industry, affecting the chain to the entire coastal economy.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province - emphasized that the lack of labor directly affects output and exploitation efficiency, while affecting the work of protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands. In the coming time, the agricultural sector will focus on closely coordinating with the authorities of coastal localities, focusing on disseminating regulations on the 2017 Fisheries Law as well as recommendations from the European Commission EC. Focus on developing vocational training plans for local workers, promoting the application of scientific and technical advances in seafood exploitation.
We are coordinating with local authorities to focus on propaganda and implementing policies to support marine labor, while applying automatic steering technology, post-harvest preservation technology, mechanical technology for exploitation activities at sea, to increase the efficiency of fishing, increase value and create attractive conditions for local workers, said Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh.
