Many fishermen in the central region have reported bumper catches during Tết holiday.
In Phú Yên, one of the country’s biggest tuna fishing provinces, many boats from Tuy Hòa City that went offshore before Tết (February 5) returned on the fourth day of the new year, each with 25 – 30 fish weighing a total of 1.2 – 1.5 tonnes. Most made a profit of VNĐ70 – 200 million (US$3,000 – 8,600), according to their owners.
Traders at the port bought the fish at VNĐ130,000 ($5.6) a kilogramme. Nguyễn Văn Bin said he caught more than 30 tuna weighing a total of 1.5 tonnes after fishing offshore for 18 days. “We took enough food to celebrate Tết on the sea.”
Fishing during Tết brings a higher profit than normal days since the price of tuna is high then, he said. After the fourth day of the new year more than 60 boats that went fishing for tuna, mackerel, cuttlefish and other species returned to Đông Tác and Phú Lạc fishing ports in Phú Yên.
Boats that fish near shore also got good catches after resuming just after Tết.
Thousands of fishermen in Ninh Thuận, Bình Định and Quảng Ngãi provinces reported bumper catches of anchovy on the fourth day of the year. In Ninh Hải and Thuận Nam districts and Phan Rang – Tháp Chàm City in Ninh Thuận, each boat caught 3.5 – 4 tonnes of anchovy in one day of fishing, earning around VNĐ50 million ($2,150). The main anchovy season is between Tết and the fourth lunar month.
In Nghệ An Province, dozens of fishing boats filled with herring docked at Quỳnh Phương fishing port in Hoàng Mai Town on the fifth day of Tết. Nguyễn Văn Thành of Hoàng Mai’s Quỳnh Phương Ward said he had caught four tonnes of herring and nearly two tonnes of other fish in just one day of fishing near shore.
Every man on the trip earned nearly VNĐ10 million ($430), he said.
Hồ Xuân Hường, chairman of the Quỳnh Phương Ward People’s Committee, said the bumper catches in the first trip after Tết would motivate fishermen to go offshore.
The commune has more than 600 fishing boats and expects to catch 20,000 tonnes of fish and other species this year, according to the chairman.
Many boat owners in the central and southern regions who did not go offshore during Tết have resumed fishing.
In Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province, many fishermen left on the fourth day of the year.
The prices of fuel, fishing tools and other materials are steady and there are enough men for fishing, according to boat owners in the province. Trần Ngọc Tâm, a fisherman in Long Điền District’s Phước Tỉnh Commune, said boats normally go out on the fourth, sixth, eighth, or 10th day of the year.
VNN
