Fishermen said fishing grounds are increasingly depleting aquatic resources, including tuna. Picture: KS.
Mr. Vo Ngoc Tung, Vice Chairman of Phuoc Dong Fisheries Union, City. Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa) said that on the last trip, low-power tuna fishing vessels docked at Hon Ro port, about 1 ton fish/vessel on average. Regarding the price of fish bought by companies, it is 120-125,000 VND/kg; decreased from 20,000 to 25,000 VND/kg in the same period.
While the average cost for a voyage longer than 20 days ranges from 110 to 120 million VND/vessel. Few fishing boats make a profit after costs are deducted, but they almost break even or even break even during the peak tuna fishing season.
According to Mr. Vo Ngoc Tung, aquatic resources have been increasingly depleted in recent years, of which tuna is no exception. Now fishermen can catch 25-30 fish, which is equivalent to 1 ton of fish, which is not easy. Therefore, when the price of purchased mackerel decreases, the cost of the sea voyage increases, causing many ships to suffer losses.
Like Mr. Tung’s family, there have been many tuna fishing boats in the past, but due to frequent losses, they sold some of them. Currently only one vessel has switched to trawling (lighting) which specializes in catching floating fish such as tuna, sardines, marlin and mackerel.
Currently, due to export difficulties, companies are buying ocean tuna at low levels. Picture: KS.
“With the current low price of purchased tuna, fishermen will struggle and find it difficult to recoup costs. However, during the peak tuna fishing season, Union vessels use the sea. Besides, the fishermen don’t follow the sea, what do they get to eat and stabilize their life,” said Fisherman Tung.
Fisherman Tran Van Dong from Hon Ro, Phuoc Dong Township (Nha Trang City) also admitted that it is now difficult to catch high-yield fish like before because of exhausted resources. Like two of his vessels on a recent Tet voyage, one has 1.2 tons of fish and the other only 8 tons.
Since the price of tuna has dropped to only 120-125 thousand VND / kg, it costs up to 160 million to travel through Tet on ships. Because in addition to the high price of raw materials, each crew member has to pay 8-9 million VND/person when disembarking from the ship (PV ship 5-6 fishermen). Therefore, on the last trip, the east fisherman counted on the fact that the ships were not profitable, but lost tens of millions of money in advance.
Meanwhile, fisherman Dong said that with the hijacking of the two vessels he caught at sea and a number of other vessels, the upcoming voyage to dock tuna was even less than the last voyage.
At present, the cost of sea voyages for fishing vessels is increasing due to increased input material prices. Picture: KS.
According to tuna processing and exporting companies in Khanh Hoa, the export of Vietnamese tuna to overseas markets is very gloomy from the last months of 2022 until now. Firms receive few orders but keep production going to keep workers.
For example, T&H Nha Trang Co., Ltd., Dien Tho Township, Dien Khanh District, is still trying to produce even though the export orders only meet 30-40% of the normal annual rate.
Mr. Huynh Dac Tri, director of T&H Nha Trang Co., Ltd., said that the overall Vietnamese tuna export market to other countries is currently slow, with 70-80% of customers stopping buying to settle the inventory.
At present, tuna exporters receive few orders from the markets. Picture: KS.
“Due to large stocks and people’s purchasing power in the markets, all of which have declined due to inflation, war, etc., companies exporting Vietnamese tuna to other countries have received very few orders since the drop in the price of domestically bought tuna Tuna,” Mr Huynh Dac Tri shared, adding that the price of tuna bought from companies in Nha Trang is currently around VND130,000/kg, depending on the shop, to help fishermen comply with that Sea.
The Director of T&H Nha Trang Co.,Ltd. also said fishermen will abandon ship due to insufficient cost when tuna price is low. However, given the currently grim tuna export situation, the recovery is expected to take until June-July. However, companies say this is just a forecast, not really sure.
Mr. Le Van Ba, deputy director of Hon Ro Fishing Port Management Committee, said the tuna fishing vessels achieved an average yield of over 1 ton fish/vessel during the last Tet voyage. Due to the low price of purchased tuna while voyage costs are high, most fishing vessels break even or lose money. The tuna fishing vessels are expected to dock in a week for the February voyage this year. However, only about 70% of the ships go to sea with this voyage, because in addition to the high costs and the small catch, the lack of seamen is also the cause.