Vietnam: The Fishermen and the Sea

Part 1: Vietnamese fishermen call for protection of livelihoods

Frequent harassment by China’s navy is destroying the traditional livelihoods of fishermen from Vietnam, who say their government must provide them with better protection while they ply their trade in contested waters in the South China Sea.

Fishermen from Ly Son—an island district that is part of central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province—say Chinese naval personnel regularly confiscate their catches, destroy their equipment, and even detain them and ram their vessels in waters near the disputed Paracel Islands where they have fished for more than 200 years.

Call for support

China’s Supreme Court said in August last year that the country will protect its territorial sovereignty and navigation interests within a nine-dash demarcation line that Beijing uses to claim 90 percent of the South China Sea—including the Paracels—and jail for up to one year those caught illegally fishing in its waters.

China's territorial claim to the South China Sea includes two disputed island chains. Graphic: RFAHai said that working the waters near the Paracel Islands should be profitable because of their proximity to home, but that fishermen often lose money because of Chinese interference.

Phan Huy Hoang, chairman of the official Quang Ngai Province Fishery Association, vowed at the time that Vietnam’s fishermen would continue to work in the waters, and said his country would take measures against China if necessary.

But while Hanoi has urged Vietnam’s fishermen to continue their trade near the Paracels and uphold the nation’s claim to the islands, Hai and Truong said the government must do more to support them.

Instead, they said, fishermen facing danger must first speak to representatives of their official unions, who then contact local authorities on their behalf.

Hai said that despite assurances of protection from local authorities, “[they] don’t often keep their promises.”

“In general, they are quick [to respond] when we are near them, but if we are far away it takes them much longer to act,” he said, adding that timing is critical when fishing boats are pursued by much more powerful Chinese vessels.

The questionable support means that “very few fishermen dare approach the Paracel Islands at present,” according to Hai.

Truong said he feels equally powerless in the face of China’s maritime might.

“Our fishing vessels are of lower power capacity ... so even when we see them as tiny spots on the horizon, we have to immediately flee,” he said.

“How can we small ants fight against these giant vessels? They have huge guns and can attack us without fear … Our fishing boats are weak and are easily damaged when China’s steel ships ram against them.”

The two men said most fishermen in Vietnam support their government’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, but believe they are operating on their own when they work in the waters because of what they believe is a lack of official support.

International ruling

Chinese rescue vessel Nanhaijiu 115 on South China Sea on March, 2014. Photo: AFPOn July 12, 2016, an international arbitration tribunal decided in a case brought by the Philippines that China has no right to resources within the nine-dash demarcation line and cannot claim a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone around reefs and atolls in the Spratly and Paracel Islands.

The Spratlys and Paracels, which Vietnam calls Truong Sa and Hoang Sa respectively, are located amid strategic shipping lanes and abundant fishing grounds, and may contain oil and natural gas reserves under the seabed.

Vietnam and other countries claim the two island chains as part of their own territory, but Chinese forces have repeatedly attacked and chased away fishing boats from the area over the last few years.

Vietnam welcomed the court’s July decision and has continued to assert its sovereignty over the islands. China, however, dismissed the ruling, that invalidated nearly all of Beijing’s claims of exclusive access to the waters.

Reported by Chan Nhu for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Thuy Brewer. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Part 2: China's incursions, pollution force Vietnam's fishermen to quit fishing

Vietnamese fishermen are abandoning their trade because they can no longer work safely in the South China Sea and cannot sell what they catch off the coast of Vietnam, according to sources.

Residents of Ly Son, in central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province, and nearby Da Nang city say Chinese naval personnel regularly confiscate their catches, destroy their equipment, detain them and ram their vessels in the South China Sea near the disputed Paracel Islands, where they have fished for 200 years.

Chemical spill

Formosa Plastics Corporation of Taiwan acknowledged in June that its steel plant run by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation released toxic chemicals in April that killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen who ply the waters off central Vietnam near Da Nang and Ly Son.

Formosa pledged to pay U.S. $500 million to clean up the spill and compensate people affected by it, but the government has faced protests over the amount of the settlement and the slow pace of the payouts.

A fishwife surnamed Tham told RFA that the spill had wreaked havoc on the fish population of central coastal Vietnam and created serious difficulties for her family.

“Recently my husband caught some fish, but I couldn’t sell them, which is why I don’t have money to buy fuel for his boat to return to sea,” she said.

Tham, who has been selling her husband’s catch at the Ly Son market for years, said fish that normally sells for more than 100,000 dong (U.S. $4.50) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) no longer fetches even half that price.

“People are very scared when they eat fish, so [earning a living] fishing has become very difficult,” she said.

Tham urged Vietnam’s government to pay greater attention to the plight of the country’s fishermen and suggested additional subsidies could help alleviate the difficulties they endure. “They must support the fishermen who need fuel to go fishing,” she said.

“Otherwise, life in Ly Son this year will be quite miserable.”

Crop infestation

A recent infestation of worms had decimated their garlic crops. Photo: RFALy Son, which is also known for producing special varieties of garlic and onions, recently suffered a particularly bad harvest, and the combined lack of income from fishing and farming had left families increasingly desperate, according to Tham.

“People from Ly Son are very hungry because we have lost our crops and also because our seas are not producing,” she said.

Several residents of Ly Son told RFA that a recent infestation of worms had decimated their garlic crops and that effective pesticides were either unavailable or too expensive.

They said a program launched by the government to provide subsidized loans to garlic planters was being implemented inefficiently, while experimental pesticides delivered by specialists had done little to protect their crops.