Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Viet Thang has declared that the authority is ready about helping fishermen deal with rising fuel costs. It is said that eight among the provinces eligible for Government support have begun transferring the relief money totally VND28.4 billion (US$1.7 million) to 4,430 fishing vessels. The names of the eight provinces are Ca Mau, Tien Giang, Binh Thuan, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien – Hue, Ninh Thuan and Thanh Hoa.
It is said that the remaining provinces are providing their eligible fishermen with guidelines to complete necessary procedures to receive the relief. Most of them have established councils that will be responsible for checking fishermen’s application dossiers. Ministries, sectors and localities all must bear responsibility for this delay. Local authorities are afraid of troubles arising from money-related issues, so they wait for coherent regulations from the issued decisions and following instructions.
The government has agreed to give a supplementary financial boost to fishermen. In particular, persons who have been granted VND8 million will receive an additional VND2 million, and a similar provision would be granted in other cases. This help would assist fishermen in settling their problems once and for all and to ensure the sustainable development of the domestic fishing industry, we need to have several synchronous measures that allow fishermen to minimise the costs needed for transportation and increase their fishing efficiency.
