Fishing boats in Ben Tre province. The province plans to expand offshore fishing to ensure fishing is sustainable (Photo: VNA) Ben Tre (VNS/VNA) – The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Ben Tre willexpand its offshore fishing and revamp its fishing fleet to sustainably exploitmarine resources under a new plan for until 2030.
Under the 250 billion VND (10.78 million USD) plan, the province will reducethe number of fishing boats by 468 to 3,528 in 2030.
Nguyen Van Buoi, deputy director of the province Department of Agriculture andRural Development, said near-shore fishing and overexploitation of seafoodstocks would be reduced.
With the number of fishing boats regulated, redundant fishermen will be helpedwith switching to other occupations.
Some 2,338 people will thus be taught vocational skills and provided with jobs.
Nguyen Truc Son, deputy chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, promisedthat to meet the targets the province would have a number of measures to managethe fishing activities and support policies to help fishermen switch to otherjobs.
From now until 2030 the province will also implement advocacy programmes andprojects to regulate exploitation and ensure protection of fishery resources.
It plans to establish community-based models to make fishing sustainable.
It will arrange its fishing boats into fleets for better management,categorising them into less than 12 metres long, between 12 and 15 metres andmore than 15 metres.
In March last year the province started the installation of black boxes inoffshore fishing boats with a length of at least 15 metres to locate theirlocation.
Some 97.8 percent of the 1,962 offshore fishing boats have installed italready, including all of those with a length of more than 24 metres.
The province has set up 160 offshore fishing groups comprising 2,043 boats.This has enabled them to stay longer at sea and increase their catches.
The province, which has a coastline of 65 kilometres, has advantages inaquaculture, fishing and seafood processing, and has well exploited its marineeconomy in recent years./.
VNA
