In the bustling atmosphere of Quy Nhon Fishing Port at the beginning of the new year, fisherman Phan Thanh Truong from Dong Da Ward of Quy Nhon City was happily unloading the captured tuna. His staff were also busy taking two large plastic waste bags, weighing over 13kg, to the environmental officers here in exchange for VND4,000 (US$0.164) per kilo. Truong shared that this was the waste disposed from daily activities on their fishing trip as well as the one floating on the sea.

Similarly, the fishing boat of Ngo Minh Chau from Hoai Hai Commune of Hoai Nhon Town carried about 22kg of plastic trash collected on sea. Chau joyfully said that his four ships have registered in the program of plastic waste circulation, organized by the functional agency of Binh Dinh Province lately.

“So far, fishing ship have thrown away plastic waste right into the sea, which is extremely harmful to the environment. This trash might then drift back to shore or sink deep into the seabed, damaging the ocean. This is also a waste of material since used items could be recycled to useful ones later. Therefore, when Binh Dinh Province launches this plastic waste circulation model, I immediately join in”, said fisherman Chau.

The plastic waste circulation model, where plastic trash floating on the sea is collected and taken to shore, is the idea of Dr. Tran Van Vinh from Binh Dinh Province Department of Fisheries. Dr. Vinh recalled that in 2021, his unit conducted a preliminary investigation, whose result reveals that most fishing boats just throw plastic waste directly into the sea.