Several Thousand Vietnamese Tuna Boats Stay In Port ff

As fuel prices have increased since 2004, offshore trips cost fishermen another VND6,460bil ($403.75mil) according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Fisheries.

Heavy financial burden has been placed on fishermen, as fuel prices have continued to rise since 2004. They would now rather not put out to the sea as they cannot make enough profit from offshore trips.

According to Le Tieu La, Deputy of the Aquatic Projecting Institute under the Ministry of Fisheries, total expenses for offshore fishing will increase by VND161.5bil ($10.09mil) if the oil prices increase another VND100/litre. DO oil, for example, has soared by VND4,000/litre since 2000, meaning that the fishermen have to pay a further VND6,460bil ($403.75mil) per annum.

As such, every kilogramme of catch will have additional input cost of VND3,570. Mr La said that the total expense on every fishing trip has increased by 38% so far, while selling prices have been not changed.

As a result, fisheries output has decreased dramatically. The central province of Binh Dinh reported a decrease of 40% in ocean tuna output in the first five months of 2006 compared to the same period of the previous year. The figure is 27% for Phu Yen province.

Local authorities released these statistics, indicating that fishermen have incurred losses of VND13mil ($812.5) for every boat fishing for ocean tuna. Mr La said that several thousand fishing boats have been kept in dock in recent months, which he considered a warning.

Minister of Fisheries Ta Quang Ngoc has called for solutions to the situation. However, he has warned that fishermen should prepare for further oil price rises in future.

Expenses for fuel account for 70-80% of total expenses on every deep-sea fishing trip. Vietnam now has 90,000 fishing boats with total capacity of 4mil horsepower, which consume 1.615mil tonnes of fuel.