VOA标准英语2008年-Overfished Vietnam Subsidizes More Fishing Boat

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
08 May 2008

There are a 100,000 fishing boats in Vietnam - too many, say conservation experts, who warn of overfishing in Vietnam's coastal¹ waters. But Vietnamese fishermen are hurting from rising fuel prices. To help them, the government is offering subsidies² to build even more boats. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi.

 

Deputy Agriculture Minister Nguyen Van Thang told Vietnamese fishermen this week that the government will lend them a hand.

Thang says any fisherman who buys a new boat with an engine of 90 horsepower or more will get a subsidy³ of about $3,500 a year.

Thang says the subsidies will help fishermen to switch to more powerful boats that can fish further from shore. He says they will also soften⁴ the pain of high fuel prices.

But the new policy seemed to contradict Vietnam's official strategy of shrinking its fishing fleet.

Vietnam has nearly a 100,000 fishing boats. That is far too many, according to wildlife experts like Keith Symington of the international conservation group WWF, who say stocks of fish are declining.

"In 2001, for tuna, on average 25 kilograms of tuna could be caught with 100 hooks on a long-line tuna boat. And in 2005, on average, that number's gone down to about 15. You have to fish harder to catch the same amount," said Symington.

Overfishing like this could severely⁵ damage Vietnam's fisheries.

"In scientific terms they call it serial⁶ depletion⁷. Which means you'll eventually hit a point where there's no recruitment of baby fish," he added. "And then there's really a crisis. The fishery can become quickly commercially extinct."

Michael Akester is an agricultural consultant⁸ who helped Vietnam develop its fisheries strategy. He says the government has already agreed to reduce the number of small fishing boats.

"There is the master plan 2006-2010. That plan notes that it will attempt to reduce the number of fishing boats by about 40,000," said Akester.

But that was before fuel prices skyrocketed, devastating⁹ small fisher operations.

"Ten to 40 percent of these small boats are currently in port because they can't afford to fish, due to the high price of fuel," he said.

Le Van Dap, 58, is a fisherman who lives on Cham Island, off the central Vietnamese town of Hoi An. Dap says more than half of the fishermen on his island are staying home and finding other work.

Dap says fishermen on Cham Island only go fishing when they hear a school of fish is nearby. He says construction work pays three dollars a day, an adequate salary, while fishing pays almost nothing.

But fishermen who cannot find other work are desperate for help. While World Trade Organization rules bar direct government fuel subsidies, the plan to subsidize bigger boats, which can fish farther at sea, is allowed.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Thang also has implied the government may be backing away from the goal of cutting the fishing fleet by half.

Thang says the figure of 50,000 boats by 2010 needs to be adjusted. He says the Agriculture Ministry¹⁰ is asking the government to reconsider whether such deep cuts are necessary.

Akester thinks that is a mistake. First, he says, even the offshore¹¹ fisheries near Vietnam have been depleted¹² by big fishing trawlers from Japan and Spain, so the bigger boats are not likely to improve incomes.

And, he says, the government is missing an opportunity to move fishermen idled by high fuel prices into other industries, like aquaculture and marine¹³ transport.

Dap, for instance, earns more now than he ever did as a fisherman. He uses his boat to ferry tourists around his picturesque¹⁴ island home.

When you go fishing, Dap says, you do not know whether you will catch anything. But carrying tourists, he says, you know you will make money.

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

4 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

7 depletion   

n.耗尽，枯竭

参考例句：

• Increased consumption of water has led to rapid depletion of groundwater reserves.用水量的增加导致了地下水贮备迅速枯竭。
• Farmers should rotate crops every season to prevent depletion of the soil.农夫每季应该要轮耕，以免耗尽土壤。

8 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

12 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

13 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。