Many offshore fishers of Binh Dinh province and other provinces have been chased and intimidated in recent years by Chinese ships even though they are fishing at Vietnamese waters. Anyhow, 4 fishing boats, including a 900-CV one, of Mr. Nguyen Van Ai, 62 years old, from Xuan Binh hamlet, My An commune, Phu My district keep on their fishing trips as normal in order to claim Vietnamese sovereignty and fishing fields. “We have been fishing in our waters, we’re scared of nobody”- asserted the fisherman.
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The 900-CV fishing boat BĐ-94439 TS is considered the biggest fishing boat in Binh Dinh.
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More than 40 years of fishing experience
After more than 40 years of committing to the fishing job, the captain Nguyen Van Ai no longer joins regular fishing trips in person but he still commands a fleet of 4 fishing boats at Spratly Islands via ICOMs.
- You have 40 years of fishing experience. May you learn a lot of lessons?
I had the very first fishing trip when I was 16 years old. I went fishing with my father. Fishing boat of my father at that time was too rudimentary and small to go fishing offshore. We mainly went shore fishing. Waters at Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan province was the farthest fishing field.
My father shared me all of his life-long experience of fishing, from how to identify fish-ways to how to deal with unexpected events at sea. He trusted me to take charge of a captain in offshore fishing trips when I was 21 years old.
- And now, you teach your children your experience?
I am now 62 years old and still strong enough to join in long offshore fishing trips. But, my children are mature enough to undertake the job. I need to teach them so that they perform the task themselves. I have 8 children, including 6 sons who are succeeding me to the fishing.
I have saved a sum of capital to buy 4 fishing boats for my sons, including two 270-CV boats BĐ - 94031 TS and BĐ - 94032 TS, a 450-CV boat BĐ - 94033 TS and a 900-CV boat BĐ - 94439 TS.
Determination to keep on fishing and protecting the fishing fields
Hundreds of Binh Dinh offshore fishing boats have been chased and intimidated by Chinese ships in the past two months although they are fishing at Vietnamese waters. At first, many of them returned home, left the fishing trips unfinished because they were afraid of the Chinese ships. After collecting their wits, they are now determined to head for the open sea to keep on practicing as fishers, to claim the nation’s sovereignty over the inviolable marine territory.
- Your fleet of fishing boats have been regularly chased and caused obstruction by the Chinese ships. As an experienced fisher, how do you deal with them?
Generations of my family have been committing to the fishing job. I myself have practiced the fishing over a half of human life. 6 sons of mine went out to sea when they grew up enough. The sea has sustained life of my family and nearly 400 relatives of 75 labourers in the 4 fishing boats for many years. Everything was going smoothly and suddenly the Chinese ships appeared and chased us in recent time while we were fishing in Vietnamese waters. They even threatened us with guns in order to force us leave the lucrative fishing fields.
In such tense situation, my sons asked me to return home, stopping the fishing for a while and waiting until the situation calmed down. I ordered them via ICOMs to absolutely not come back to the shore but continue the fishing trips instead. We have been fishing in our waters, we’re scared of nobody. I told them to gather the 4 boats together and cooperatively go fishing near other boats so that they could help together in case of unexpected events. Witnessing our acts of determination, the Chinese ships dared not to chase anymore but took pictures of us and left then.
- Thanks to the boats’ great capacity, your fleet helped some fishing boats from Quang Ngai province to escape from the Chinese ships’ chase, didn’t them?
In a recent fishing trip this June, 4 fishing boats from Quang Ngai province were suddenly attacked and chased by Chinese fishing boats which accompanied by Chinese navy ships while the Vietnamese boats were fishing near the Spratly Islands. The 4 Quang Ngai fishing boats sent signals of emergency. Receiving the signals, the 900-CV boat of mine and other fishing boats ran at full speed to the site. Seeing us, the Chinese fishing boats turned away, stopping the chase. This wasn’t the first time my fleet helped the Quang Ngai boats. In 2009, a Quang Ngai fishing boat with a crew of 28 fishers on board sunk after being hit by the Chinese fishing boats. The Chinese boats ran away, leaving lives of the Vietnamese fishers endangered. My boats found them and timely rescued them, took them back shore at Khanh Hoa province. I bought each of them a set of clothes and gave them a sum of money to cover costs of the journey back home.
Build up great capacity boats to head to high seas
Like other central coastal provinces, Binh Dinh has a large fleet of nearly 8,000 fishing boats, including nearly 2,000 offshore fishing boats with at least 90-CV. Mr. Ai is the first person in Binh Dinh and is among the first group of fishers in central region dared to invest a big sum of money in building 900-CV fishing boats.
- Many fishing boat owners dare not to build big boats because they are afraid of losses. Why did you decide to build such a big boat to go to open sea?
Being afraid of the losses has been a weak point of Vietnamese fishermen for a long time. But in reality, if we have big boats, we will perform the fishing more easily, gain higher output of sea products, become less frightened of the bullied Chinese fishing boats in case of clashes. For that reason, I decided to invest all of my savings to build a greater capacity, more modern boat. It was put into operation in December 2010.
- Can you please introduce about the boat?
The 900-CV boat BĐ-94439 TS was built at Quy Nhon city. It is 26 metres in length, 7.5 metres in width, 150 tonnes in weight, able to endure strong winds. It is equipped with 1 radar, 2 ICOMs, 2 GPS machines, 1 flat-monitor 32 inch TV, a set of karaoke... Cost of building the boat itself is 3.5 billion VND and cost of fishing equipment is 1.3 billion VND.
- Your output would surely increase after it was put into operation?
In 2010, when I didn’t have such the big boat, average income of the laborers in our fishing boat fleet was 55 million VND/person/year. Now, in the first 5 months of 2011, the figure has reached 78 million VND/person.
We have continuously gained good harvest in the sea since the beginning of this year. If there had been no harassment of the Chinese ships, we would have had better harvest.
- Do you intend to build more modern boats?
I want to build another 900-CV boat and have already submitted a loan application form to a bank to borrow 1.5-2 billion VND. I expect the government to create more favourable borrowing conditions for me and other fishermen so that we build more big and modern boats, heading to the open sea. This is way to protect our traditional fishing fields and the nation’s inviolable marine territory.
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