No provinces or cities have completed lists of fishermen who would benefit from the Government's support programme on building new high-capacity, steel boats for offshore fishing, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development during a recent online discussion.

The discussion aimed at providing detail information and explaining Government Decree 67/2014/ND-CP under which policies were introduced to boost the development of fisheries, including a programme on building high-capacity, steel boats for deep sea fishing.

To be able to benefit from the programme, fishermen must be approved by the local People's Committees.

Commercial banks nationwide have pledged about 14 trillion VND (658 million USD) in loans for organisations and individuals wishing to build new vessels or upgrade their fishing vessels under Decree 67.

Pham Ngoc Tuan, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the online discussion said the slowness in approving the lists were due to lack of efforts, in particular, the provision of information about the policies, from local authorities.

Speaking at the discussion, speakers talked in detail about requirements for fishermen and firms to benefit from the decree.

The State Bank has asked commercial banks to set up hotlines to receive inquiries from fishermen about the issue.

Under present plans, the number of fishing boats in Vietnam could reach 110,000 by 2020, of which 30,000 would fish offshore.

Le Trung Thanh, Vice-general Director of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, said the bank had asked its credit officers to actively provide information to farmers in order to timely reimburse the Government's funding for the programme.

BIDV and other commercial banks have set up a loan form which is short and easy to understand for farmers.

Forty fishermen in central Quang Ngai province are the first to qualify for Government loans to build new fishing vessels.

Under Government Decree 67/2014/ND-CP, basic policies were introduced to boost the development of fisheries, including building high-capacity, steel boats for deep sea fishing.

The move is expected to increase the tonnage of fish caught and lift the incomes of fishermen.

The eligible fishermen plan to build 15 ships, two composite mother ships and 23 wooden boats.

This information was revealed at a meeting of the Quang Ngai provincial steering committee chaired by director Pham Truong Tho, who is also vice-chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

Tho has told commercial banks to simplify procedures to make it easier for the fishermen to access loans.

He also suggested agencies hold communication campaigns to help local fishermen fully understand their rights and obligations as Decree 67 beneficiaries.

Commercial banks nationwide have pledged about 14 trillion VND (658 million USD) in loans for organisations and individuals wishing to build new or upgrade their fishing vessels under Decree 67.

As many as 2,079 new off-shore fishing ships and 205 logistics ships will be built under this decree, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.-VNA