Vietnam’s fishers face rising costs, declining catches and a contested sea

QUANG NGAI, Vietnam — When diesel prices in Vietnam hit an all-time high in March, Vo Huu Viet, a fisherman with more than 30 years at sea in Quang Ngai province in Central Vietnam, did something he rarely does. He stayed on shore. “The catch is simply not enough to make up for the labor of four men,” Viet said. Docking the aging wooden boat he inherited from his father means he, his wife, his crew and their families had to do other work, such as hauling heavy goods for other people, to make ends meet. Viet was hardly alone. In fishing ports around Vietnam, thousands of boats stayed docked for months as the fuel crisis made sea-bound trips unprofitable. The hike in fuel prices, fishers told Mongabay, didn’t just raise the cost of diesel — it raised the cost of everything else that supports a fishing boat, from ice to food. From March 1 to April 21 of this year, fishing activities around Vietnam fell 18.9% compared with the same time last year, from the nonprofit vessel-tracking platform Global Fishing Watch. For energy-intensive trawlers, the drop was 31%. As fuel prices spiked in Vietnam, fishing boats spent fewer hours on the water. Graphic by Andrés Alegria/Mongabay. Fuel is not the only pressure. Declining fish stocks — the result of years of unsustainable and illegal fishing, compounded by climate change — along with international pressures to tighten fishing enforcement and the growing presence of Chinese vessels add to the strain. The…This article was originally published on

Mongabay