No back down
Although not as large as many other households, storm Yagi also swept away about 80,000 oyster seedlings of the family of Ms. Le Thi Lan, 74 years old, residing in village 5, Hoang Tan commune, Quang Yen town, causing damage of more than 3 billion VND.
Ms. Lan shared that in November 2024, her family was assigned water surface by the local government to raise oysters, so now the whole family is focusing on working, the men are building cages and rafts, the women are at home making growing media.
“Previously, we did 8 parts, now we have to increase it to 10 parts to be able to plant in February 2025. In June 2025, we will separate and hang the oysters in cages and wait until February 2026 to be able to harvest the first crop after Typhoon Yagi,” said Ms. Lan.
The family of Mr. Le Van Luong, 60 years old, village 3, Hoang Tan commune, has just been allocated water surface for aquaculture. He said that Typhoon Yagi had swept away all of his property, causing more than 2 billion VND in damage and that he had not received any support, so he was very worried, but that was the rule, so he had to accept it.
"The family was assigned 0.6 hectares of water surface - a rather small area compared to the 5 hectares of free-range farming before. Therefore, we will cooperate with other fishing households to save on care work," said Mr. Luong.
Returning to the aquaculture capital of Van Don, vitality and confidence have returned strongly, despite the difficulties ahead with mounting debts.
Ms. Lieu Thi Minh Luyen - a fisherman in Van Don - said she was a bit disappointed because she did not receive support, but she still had to get up and continue, because she had been attached to the profession for a long time and in Van Don, this is one of the biggest advantages.
“We have to recover step by step. My family’s oyster batch is expected to be sold in 9-10 months. If everything goes well, the first batch will break even, or lose a little because we have to invest almost from the beginning. The next batches are expected to be profitable to gradually pay off the debt and move forward. Learning from experience, I will have input invoices, especially for the seed, in case of need,” Ms. Luyen shared.
According to the People's Committee of Van Don district, up to now, people have raised oysters on about 3,791 hectares and planted new seeds on 2,116 hectares. Regarding fish farming, the number of fish cages damaged by the storm has been completely restored, with a quantity of 3,750 cages.
Speed up the progress of water surface delivery
Handing over the water surface so that fishermen can farm with peace of mind and not encroach outside, and is also a base for support in case of natural disasters and epidemics.
Up to now, in Van Don district alone, the sea area has been assigned to 5 aquaculture households (area under 1ha within 3 nautical miles under the authority of the district level), with an area of 2.6ha. Confirmation of sea areas to restore production has been carried out for 85 cooperatives, with a total of 1,208 members, with a total temporary assigned area of about 8,589ha.
Meanwhile, in Cam Pha City, several draws have been conducted and a list of people assigned sea areas for aquaculture has been announced.
Mr. Pham Le Hung - Chairman of Cam Pha City People's Committee - said that the city is completing procedures to hand over to households for farming in the 3 nautical mile area. For areas outside the 3 nautical mile area under the province's jurisdiction, Cam Pha City is continuing to coordinate and review the documents for the province to grant. The handover of sea surface is very strict to ensure the right subjects, avoiding future complaints.
In Quang Yen town, Mr. Doan Van Hanh - Deputy Head of the Economic Department of Quang Yen town - said that according to the aquaculture planning, the town has about 800 hectares in Hoang Tan and Lien Hoa communes.
Up to now, 710 households have been approved for water surface for aquaculture, of which 644 households raise oysters and mussels; 66 households raise fish. For oyster and mussel farming households, 0.6ha of water surface is granted/household, fish farming households are granted 0.2ha of water surface/household. There have been decisions to allocate water surface to over 400 households, and on-site allocation has been made to over 300 households with a total area of over 190ha. The town is determined to complete the allocation of water surface to aquaculture households by 2024.
