Half of fishing vessels cease operations as fuel becomes unaffordable

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said with diesel prices rising 1.7-fold since the end of last year, the cost of operating boats has risen by 35-48 percent, while seafood prices have only gone up marginally.

This is disrupting supply chains and the absence of Vietnamese vessels in the ocean is also affecting the country’s maritime sovereignty, it said.

It proposed to the government that the owners of vessels that do not go to sea should be paid a stipend of VND3-4.4 million a month for six months.

There were 91,720 fishing vessels at the end of last year.

Over 600,000 people are involved in offshore fishing while nearly four million fishermen work near shore.