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TENSIONS are growing between China and Vietnam over fishing activities in the region - and it is having an impact on supplies.
More than 100 Vietnamese fishing companies have stopped exporting and processing seafood products because it is claimed Chinese ships are continuing to impede Vietnamese trawlers from fishing. Chinese sales people are also aggressively buying up large amounts of fish at Vietnamese markets.
Vietnam is a major exporter of fish, mainly farmed pangasius, to Britain, Europe and North America. According to the website VietnamNet Bridge, a conference in Ho Chi Minh City, and chaired by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers (VASEP) was told many Vietnamese seafood producers were seriously lacking in seafood supplies.
This was because Chinese businessmen buy most fish, caught by Vietnamese fishermen, at ports or directly at sea before the catch could make its way to Vietnamese companies.
Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, from the export association, said many Vietnamese fishermen, because of the Chinese recent actions in the East Sea, dare not leave port because their vessels were intercepted by businessmen on Chinese boats who tried to collect seafood right at sea. On land these same businessmen tried to scramble with Vietnamese companies for purchasing seafood. The situation is helping to push up prices.
VietnamNet Bridge reports that Pham Xuan Nam from the Dai Thuan Company as saying: “They (Chinese businessmen) come to purchase goods, place orders and then carry goods to China as if they are Chinese."
This is not the first reports of fishing clashes between the two countries, which were once Communist allies. China is increasingly flexing its muscles over fishing in South East Asia and some experts believe that oil resources, more than fish stocks, is the real long term reason behind its forceful stance.
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