The first 40 fishermen in the central province of Quang Ngai are eligible for borrowing money from banks to build new fishing vessels under the Government’s Decree 67.

Decree 67/2014/ND-CP provides basic policies to boost fisheries development, including supporting fishermen in building high-capacity, iron-covered ships designed for offshore fishing, a practice that could earn fishermen higher incomes.

The eligible fishermen plan to build 15 iron-covered ships, two composite vessels and 23 wooden boats.

The information was unveiled at a November 3 meeting of the Quang Ngai provincial steering committee for Decree 67 implementation chaired by its director Pham Truong Tho, who is also Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

He asked commercial banks to simplify procedures for the fishermen’s quicker and easier access to the loans.

He also suggested relevant agencies promote communication campaigns to help local fishermen fully understand their rights and obligations when becoming 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