On October 20, the program “Lighting up the sea with fishermen” came to fishermen in U Minh district, Ca Mau province. On the sidelines of the program, many fishermen said that only by protecting fishing grounds, minimizing near-shore fishing, destructive fishing, and regenerating aquatic resources… can shrimp and fish recover.
Fisherman Truong Van Vung - Khanh Hoi commune, U Minh district, Ca Mau province, who fishes for squid - said that in recent years, fishing has been difficult, the cost is high but the aquatic resources are not much. "Offshore, there are nets and rakes, onshore, there are traps and nets everywhere, no shrimp or fish can reproduce in time. If we protect the fishing grounds well, leaving time for shrimp and fish to reproduce, then fishermen can prosper," Mr. Vung analyzed.
Sharing the same view, fisherman Nguyen Thanh Hung, Khanh Hoi commune, U Minh district, Ca Mau added that the reality of fishing with electric shock is very dangerous. “Big fish, small fish, all die. Recently, the district and commune have encouraged fishermen to hand over illegal fishing equipment, and I fully agree,” said Mr. Hung.
Vice Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee Le Van Su said that Ca Mau is one of the provinces with a large fishing fleet, with more than 4,300 vessels, of which 1,551 vessels have the longest length of 15m or more, operating offshore; the annual fishing output is over 230 thousand tons, making an important contribution to the socio-economic development of the province. Fishing fleets not only promote economic development, create jobs, but also play an important role in affirming national sovereignty at sea.
According to the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province, in recent times, the province has drastically and synchronously implemented solutions and tasks on combating IUU fishing and sustainably developing the fisheries sector, thereby achieving many important results, such as: issuing many directive and operational documents on combating IUU fishing; installing voyage monitoring equipment on fishing vessels of 15m or more; applying information technology in the management and control of fishing vessels; inspecting and controlling 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; implementing traceability of exploited aquatic products according to regulations.
In addition to the achieved results, there are still cases of fishing boats violating foreign waters, fishing boats crossing maritime boundaries, fishing boats losing connection to journey monitoring equipment; marine fishery resources are decreasing, costs of going to sea and exploiting fishery are increasing, causing difficulties for fishermen. "When fishing grounds are difficult, fishermen will look for other fishing grounds. This is a problem that needs to be solved, only with good fishing grounds can fishermen feel secure staying at sea", Mr. Su emphasized.
The program "Lighting up the sea with fishermen" in Ca Mau province gave gifts to 100 fishing families (each gift worth more than 6 million VND) including: a handbook "Things to know about catching seafood", batteries, LED lights, battery combos, medicine bags, solar bulbs, specialized rope rolls and a 1 million VND shopping voucher; 25 scholarships, each worth 2 million VND and a set of school supplies.
In addition, the program also donated 200 clean drinking water filters (each worth 1 million VND) to people in 4 communes: Khanh Hoi, Khanh Lam, Khanh Tien, Khanh Hoa in U Minh district. Organized free medical examinations and medicine for over 700 fishermen in Khanh Hoi commune; burned incense at the memorial site for victims of storm No. 5 (Linda) in 1997...
