It is well know fact that trawling involves pulling a large fishing net through the water by one or more boats. Depending on the depth of the nets in the water, the vessels are categorized as bottom trawling mid-water trawling. It is said that trawl nets are non-selective, sweeping up both marketable and undesirable fish and fish of both legal and illegal size.
Most of the fishermen in Ham Tan District’s Tan Thang Commune are on the verge of bankruptcy in the midst of the fishing season due to the disruptions caused by trawling vessels. As a result the fishermen can’t sell their nets in the inshore area because many bottom trawlers sweep through the water regularly, catching all types of fish. It is said that the trawlers, which are banned to fish inshore by provincial authorities, have brazenly violated regulations and even trawled fishermen’s nets for their benefits. The fishermen told that they had lost over 2,000 fishing nets to trawlers in the last three years worth over VND1 billion dong (US$59,600). Villager Nguyen Thi Quang lamented that they used to fish crab for a living, but we have lost our nets six times to the trawlers.
According to the villagers they had to wait until the trawlers went away to set their nets, but the catch was reduced dramatically and sometimes they would lose the nets if the trawlers reappeared. Head of Ho Lan Village Nguyen Trung Pho and Chairman of Tan Thang Commune Pham Dinh Dang said they were very disappointed with the ineffectiveness of the district fishing guards and inspectors.
