THE WORLD BANK ***
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT: COASTAL RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL ASSESSMENT
REPORT
HANOI, 6/2011
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 1
PREFACE
This social assessment has been developed as a tool for planners to understand how the people will
impact and will be impacted by development activities. It was conducted to determine key
stakeholders and establish a suitable framework for their participation in project selection, design,
implementation, monitoring and assessment. This social assessment is carried out also to ensure that
project objectives and driving forces for changes can be accepted by most of the people who are
expected to be the project beneficiaries and to early identify the project viability as well as potential
risks. Some issues that were dealt with in an social assessment include: (i) what are the project
impacts on different groups, particularly women and vulnerable groups; (ii) whether there are any
plans to mitigate the project adverse impacts or not; (iii) which social risks can affect success of the
project; (iv) necessary organizational arrangement for participation and project allocation; and (v)
whether there are sufficient plans to build capacities required at corresponding levels or not.
The project social assessment was conducted by the World Bank’s specialists with support from the
Central Fishery Project Management Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD), the Provincial People Committees (PPCs) of the project provinces and the provincial
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of the project provinces, the District
People’s Committees (DPCs) in the project districts and the Commune People’s Committees (CPCs)
in the project communes. Particularly, the WB’s officers have had important contribution to
completion of this assessment.
This report is called Social Assessment (SA) of the Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development
Project. This report is considered as a standard document, complying with requirements and
procedures of the World Bank. The report provides information on the results of the social
assessment results , and on safeguard policy documents such as Environmental and Social
Management Framework (ESMF), Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), Ethnic Minority
Development Framework (EMPF), Process Framework (PF), Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), Ethnic
Minority Development Plan (EMDP) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP).
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ....................................................................................................................................... 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 2
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... 5
IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 6
I. OVERVIEW............................................................................................................................. 8
1.1 General Background .......................................................................................................... 8
1.2. Project Information ........................................................................................................... 9
1.3. Project Objectives ............................................................................................................. 9
1.4. Project Components .......................................................................................................... 9
1.5. Project Scope of Work .................................................................................................... 10
II. SOCIAL ASSESSMENT METHODS ................................................................................. 11
2.1. Objectives of Social Assessment .................................................................................... 11
2.2. Tasks and Scope of Social Assessment .......................................................................... 11
Scope of Assessment.............................................................................................................. 11
2.3. Social Assessment Methods ............................................................................................ 11
2.3.1 Survey Methods......................................................................................................... 11
2.3.2 Selection of Samples and Information to be Collected ............................................. 13
2.3.3 Needed Information and Indicators ........................................................................... 14
2.3.4 Information Collection Tools .................................................................................... 14
2.3.5 Information Processing and Analysis ........................................................................ 14
2.4 Assessment Implementation ......................................................................................... 15
III. SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFORMATIN OF THE PROJECT AREAS.................................. 16
3.1 Natural and Population Features of the Project Provinces............................................... 16
3.1.1 Natural Conditions .................................................................................................... 16
3.1.2. Population................................................................................................................. 16
3.2 Features of survey samples .............................................................................................. 17
IV. ASSESSMENT RESULTS ................................................................................................. 21
4.1. Key Livelihood Activities in the Survey Areas (profile, level of dependence on coastal
resources, advantages and disadvantages) ............................................................................. 21
4.2 Risk Analysis of Current Livelihood Activities (focusing on aquaculture and capture
fishery) ................................................................................................................................... 29
4.3 Opportunities for Development of Alternative Income Sources and Livelihoods .......... 39
4.4 Participation of the Communities in the Project Activities ............................................. 40
V. PROPOSED SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS .................................................................. 44
5.1 Key Orientations to Sustainable Livelihoods at Coastal Areas ....................................... 44
5.2 Livelihood-conversion Models for Near-shore Fishery ................................................... 44
5.3 Land-based Livelihood Models ....................................................................................... 46
5.4 Non-land-based Livelihood Models ................................................................................ 51
5.5 Summary of Proposed Livelihood Models in the 3 Project Provinces ............................ 59
5.5.1 Thanh Hoa Province .................................................................................................. 59
5.5.2 Khanh Hoa Province ................................................................................................. 63
5.5.3 Soc Trang Province ................................................................................................... 67
VI. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 73
6.1. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 73
6.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 76
ANNEX 1: Project Process Framework .................................................................................... 80
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ANNEX 2. Summary of Community Consultation Results ...................................................... 97
ANNEX 3. Socio-Economic Information of the Surveyed Provinces .................................... 115
3.1.1 Thanh Hoa Province ................................................................................................ 115
3.1.2 Khanh Hoa Province ............................................................................................... 117
3.1.3 Soc Trang Province ................................................................................................. 120
3.2 Socio-Economic Information of the Surveyed Project Communes ............................... 123
3.2.1 Ngu Loc commune, Hau Loc district, Thanh Hoa province ................................... 123
3.2.2 Hai Ninh commune, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province .................................. 124
3.2.3 Ninh Loc commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province ................................... 125
3.2.4 Ninh Van commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province .................................. 127
3.2.5 Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district, Soc Trang province ................................ 129
3.2.6 An Thach 3 commune, Cu Lao Dung, Soc Trang province .................................... 131
List of Tables
Table 1: Land areas in project provinces ...................................................................................... 16
Table 2: Population of the project regions and provinces, 2009 ................................................... 17
Table 3: Social demographic features of the surveyed HHs’ memebers ...................................... 17
Table 4: Average numbers of HH members and labourers ........................................................... 19
Table 5: Social stratification by incomes ...................................................................................... 20
Table 6: Labourers’ main occupations (including all HH members involving in labouring) ....... 22
Table 7: Percentages of HHs with fishing boats/ operating in aquaculture ........................................ 23
Table 8: Percentates of HHs cultivating land (%) ......................................................................... 25
Table 9: Structure of main and secondary jobs of labourers (counting in all HH members at
work) (% of total labourers) .......................................................................................................... 25
Table 10: Averaged income per household in last 12 months from all income sources (on count
of the number of HHs involving in such economic activities) ...................................................... 25
Table 11: Surveyees’ assessment on income changes in the past 2 years (% HHs) ..................... 31
Table 12: Percentages of HHs cultivating on different land categories (%) ................................. 35
Table 13: Education attainment of HH members .......................................................................... 36
Table 14: Helpers in need.............................................................................................................. 42
Table 15: Average cultivative land area per capita ....................................................................... 47
Table 16: Migrating rates in the country by province (%) ............................................................ 53
Table 17: Characteristics of self-employed jobs and hired labouring ........................................... 55
Table 18: Average numbers of HH income sources (%) .............................................................. 57
Table 19: Status of occupation changes ........................................................................................... 58
Table 20: Categorization of boats (2009) .................................................................................... 119
Table 21: Some macro-economic targets in the period 2006-2010 ............................................ 122
Table 22: Land use status in the past 3 years .............................................................................. 129
Table 23: Population and labourers (2009) ................................................................................. 130
Table 24: Cultivation area 2010 .................................................................................................. 130
Table 25: Breeding output of the commune 2010 ....................................................................... 130
Table 26: Land use status ............................................................................................................ 132
Table 27: Population and labourers ............................................................................................. 132
Table 28: Ethnicity pattern of the commune’s population .......................................................... 132
Table 29: Religion ....................................................................................................................... 133
Table 30: The commune’s schools and classrooms .................................................................... 133
Table 31: Numbers of pupils in school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 .................................. 133
Table 32: Main plants .................................................................................................................. 134
Table 33: Breeding output of the commune in 2010 ................................................................... 134
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Table 34: Aquaculture areas in the commune in 2010 ................................................................ 134
Table 35: Numbers of HHs and labourers working in non-agricultural sector ........................... 135
Table 36: Percentage of poor HHs of the commune in 2010 ...................................................... 135
List of Charts
Chart 1: HHs’ average population and labourers by occupation groups and 20% income groups
....................................................................................................................................................... 19
Chart 2: Average income per capita by occupation groups and 20% income groups .......................... 20
Chart 3: Main occupation structure of all HH labourers .............................................................. 21
Chart 4: Percentages of HHs with productive land by occupation and income groups ................ 24
Chart 5: Surveyees’ assessment on changes of fishery incomes in the past 2 years (% HHs) ..... 26
Chart 6: Occupation structure by 20% incomes ........................................................................... 32
Chart 7: Average HHs’ incomes by occupations in the past 12 months (VND ‘000) ................. 45
Chart 8: Net population of immigrants, emigrants and migrants during five years before 2009
survey of inter-province migration flows by regions (Source: NSPH 2009) ................................ 53
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHDCND Lao
CIEM
CNR
CRSD
CSCR
CSHT
CT/PCT
EEZ
EM
GD
GDP
HI
HS
HS
HTX
IZ
JI
KHKT
KT-XH
LC
MARD/ DARD
MD
MSY
NSPH 2009
NTTS
PFP
PMU
RNM
SA
SS
SV
TĐC
TM
TTCN
VBSP
VHLSS 2008
WB
YSB
Laos People’s Democratic Republic
Central Institute of Economic Management
Central Northern Region
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Central Southern Coastal Region
Infrastructure
Chairman/ Vice Chairman
Exclusive Economic Zone
Ethnic Minority
Group Discussion
Gross Domestic Production
Health insurance
Pupils
High School
Co-operatives
Industrial Zones
Job Introduction
Sciences and Techniques
Socio-Economic
Land Clearance
Ministry/ Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Mekong detal
Maximum Sustainable Yield
National Survey on Population and Housing 2009
Aquaculture
Population and Family Planning
Project Management Unit
Mangrove forests
Social Assessment
Secondary School
Students
Resettlement
Traditional Medicine
Handicraft and Small-scaled Industry
Vietnam Bank for Social Policies
Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008
World Bank
Yearly Statistic Books
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY
Objective of social assessment: The objective of social assessment (SA) is to integrate social
background in project design to minimize negative social impacts and maximize positive social
impacts. SA studies will provide input for design of alternative livelihood activities for the poor
communities that depend deeply on the exhausting near-shore fishery resources.
Assessment methods: To collect socio-economic information at the household level fully and
precisely, the partiparatory approach is used in this survey. Accordingly, both quantitative and
qualitative methods are applied to gather information. In addition, document review and direct
observation are exploited to conduct the survey.
Scope of assessment: Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang provinces.
Key findings:
Dependence of the communities on coastal resources. Normally, nearshore fishing households (HHs)
are poor, most of them lack or have limited productive land. Their main livelihoods depend on
coastal resources from which they earn their main incomes. Main occupations of almost all household
members rely upon exploitation of nearshore resources, meanwhile these resources become more and
more exhausting.
Risks and solutions of mitigating livelihood risks for coastal communities. Risks of existing livelihood
activities imply vulnerability of the coastal communities. These risks include hard labouring to avoid a
decline in earnings, increasing natural disasters that reduced working journyes in seas reducing
capture outputs and actual decreasing households incomes. Moreover, epidemics in aquaculture are
causing severe damages that takein many years to be recovered, and, serious lack of capitals and
aceess to loans and credits . All the mentioned factors endanger people’s lives, and while it make
difficult for many households to change their livelihoods or buy new tackle to improvec fishery
capture, weak sustainability of incomes, dull economic long-sight, and high rate of poor hourseholds,
The existing risks of sea economic activities at the surveyed areas originate mainly from insufficient,
poor, and deteriorating livelihood resources (material capital, natural resources capital, human capital,
social capital, and financial capital), poor protection and management of fishery sources, and negative
impacts of external factors, for instance: natural disasters, bad weather, polluted environment,
epidemics, fluctuation in market prices such as those of petrol and gas, breeding food, medicines for
epidemics prevention, and so on.
Opportunities for sustainable livelihood’s development involve institutional and market
opportunities, local socio-economic development programs and projects, improve resources use t, for
example, land, labour force, social capital of the coastal communities, etc.
The aforesaid risks, reasons, and opportunities of sustainable livelihood development reflect the
commonality of coastal areas of the CRSD project.
Differences among coastal localities of the project areas, substaintially, derive from livelihoods of
communities and households in the local socio-economic contexts and capacities of taking advantage
of such livelihoods for creating other livelihoods as replacement for near-shore fishing. Therefore,
analysis of household and community livelihoods is an important socio-economic basis for designing
the CRSD project activities in specific localities.
Key orientations to sustainable coastal livelihoods:
* Promote all livelihood resources of family households and communities (human resources, natural
resources, physical resources, financial resources and social resources), make use of any market and
institutional opportunities as well as favored conditions in each locality in order to develop livelihoods
that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. This include the following:
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(i) Diversification of income sources is a livelihood strategy of coastal households and communities
in order to exploit fully households and community livelihood potentials to reduce pressure on nearshore fishing. Diversification of income sources should be based on market demands. Diversification
of income sources in parallel should look at improving the economic environment of the coastal area,
formation of market connection between the coastal area and other regions, especially the key
economic zones, as well as vocational training and human resources strengthening.
(ii) If the bottleneck in the national development casts in the infrastructures and the quality of human
resources, this is also considered as the bottleneck in the coastal development. In the CRSD project, it
is essential to take the training, improvement of human resources quality as a fundamental, long-term
solution for the coastal development as well as sustainable livelihood development.
* The pressure of high population, slow process of the economic development in the coastal region
create high pressure on employment as well as huge uncontrolled migrations to key economic zones,
the Central Highland. This is the utmost important social issue at the coastal area. Therefore, one of
basic solutions in CRSD project is to establish job introduction organizations, provision of labour
market information, vocational guidance, expertise provision, and building capacity for staff working
on labour-employment promotion in the localities which in turn shall provide replaceable livelihoods
whereas the local economic condition, particularly in non-agricultural sector, has not yet developed.
Its combination with job training, assistance in the compulsory education will likely bring good effects
in the long-term.
* Integrate CRSD project activities with other socioeconomic development programs and plans in the
coastal region, aiming at integrating rare resources to develop the coastal region and creating
sustainable livelihoods.
* Poverty is one of reasons that result in over-exploitation of coastal resources. Therefore, the CRSD
project should pay attention to activities for poverty reduction, creation of sustainable livelihoods for
vulnerable groups such as the poor, the pro-poor, single female headed household, ethnic minority.
* The coastal region and livelihood activities of the coastal communities are in the major risk prone.
This causes a majority of the community to fall in the spire of poverty, create more pressures on the
coastal exploitation. Therefore, risk mitigation measures such as agricultural insurance, ship insurance,
life insurance, health insurance, etc. may help reduce negative impacts from such risks. The CRSD
project shall support, promote the community participation in such insurance activities, so as
participate in pilot programs launched by the Government on agricultural insurance.
* The alternative livelihood development strategy is an important part of the aims of reducing nearshore fishing capacity. This strategy should associate with the resources co-management model,
strengthening of local admistrative capacity, and promotion of inter-sector and inter-region linkages to
implement the aims of reducing near-shore fishing.
* From the above-mentioned orientations, it is possible to classify 3 groups of proposals for the CRSD
project, i.e. a group of job mobility in marine exploitation, a group of land-based livelihood models,
and non-land-based livelihood models. Specific models can be a combination of the above
orientations.
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I. OVERVIEW
1.1 General Background
Vietnam possesses a long coastline of 3,260 kilometers and around 1 million square kilometers of
exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In the national economy, the fisheries sector plays an important role
in terms of local employment and export earnings. More than five million people are directly
employed in the sector; around 8 million people (10% of the country’s population) derive their main
income from fisheries; and approximately US$5.03 billion of the country’s export earnings in 2010
came from fisheries products (out of a total country export value of US$71.6 billion). Currently, the
fisheries sector ranks third in terms of foreign export earnings after the garment and crude oil
industries, but ahead of other agricultural products such as rice and rubber. The fishery sector has been
growing steadily since the late 1980s. Between 2000 and 2010, the sector’s growth was around 13.6%
in volume and around 10.4% in value. By 2010, the fisheries production reached 5.2 million tons
(including 2.5 million tons from capture fisheries and 2.7 million tons from aquaculture). Small
households’ operations remain dominant in both capture fisheries and aquaculture. In the former, 80%
of the catch is from near-shore fishing by using less than 90 CV fishing boats; in the latter, most
shrimp farmers have less than 1-2 ha pond for each household. Over the past decade, aquaculture has
been the leading source of growth, while capture fisheries has begun to decline quickly due to overfishing. For instance, in the Gulf of Tonkin, the catch rate (catch per unit effort, CPUE) declined from
1.13 tons in 1986 to 0.28 ton per CV per year in 2006.
The aquaculture sector began commercial production for export in the early 1980s with the farming of
tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). In the two subsequent decades, shrimp farming expanded
exponentially and became an important economic activity in coastal areas in all regions. In addition, a
number of cultured species with good potential have been researched and practiced. These new
species include lobster (Panulirus spp.), cobia (Rachycentron canadum), abalone (Haliotis spp.),
maculated ivory whelk (Babylonia areolata), silver lip pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima spp.), white-leg
shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), etc.
According MARD’s statistics, about 92% of shrimp farming area (590,377 ha) occurs in the MKD
provinces, 3% (21,852 ha) in the Northern provinces, and 4% (26,886 ha) in the Central region. Tiger
shrimp remains the most popular species, especially in the MKD region, where, until recently, whiteleg shrimp was allowed only under strict control. In the past decade, tiger shrimp farming faced
serious problems because of disease, often associated with poor management or water pollution. The
white-leg shrimp was first introduced to Vietnam in 1996-1997 (although official government
approval was given only in 2002) as an alternative culture species. Seed of white-leg shrimp was
claimed to be mainly imported from Hawaii, although other sources (e.g. Thailand) were also
reported. Since then, this species is being adopted by many farmers and expanding quickly in the past
few years especially in the Central region (the farming area and production of white leg shrimp in this
region in 2010 reached 54% and 61% respectively). Reasons for its success lie on its ability of not
likely to be affected by disease outbreaks. White-leg shrimp can be grown at extremely high stocking
densities and are characterized by culture periods significantly shorter than those of tiger shrimp (2.5
months compared to 4-5 months).
Shrimp farming systems in Vietnam can be divided into traditional extensive, improved extensive,
semi-intensive and intensive culture. At present, extensive, improved-extensive, and semi-intensive
farming are the most common (over 90% of total area) while intensive or highly intensive farming
accounts less than 10% of total area. In contrast to the steady development of brackish water shrimp
farming, marine aquaculture in Vietnam is still largely underdeveloped. This is partly due to the
limited availability of seed and suitable commercial feed. The most common farming practice includes
trapping wild seed from the sea and then raising them in cages or ponds to commercial size. Main
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culture species include groupers, cobia, seabass, lobsters, oyster, and mollusk. Cage culture of lobster
is practiced mainly in South Central Coast (Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa) where wild seed is available and
this region also is less prone to strong winds and typhoons. Generally speaking, there are two farming
systems: in small-scale mariculture, cages are made from local materials and are small in size (a few
cubic meter each cage); in large scale farming (e.g. Marine Farms), it is conducted in large (often
imported) cages. Cages are often located in bays to avoid damage by strong winds. The total
production marine aquaculture in 2010 was only around 12,500 tons although official Aquaculture
Master Plan issued in 2006 envisioned reaching in 2010 a production of 200,000 metric tons per year.
There are four main fishing areas: Gulf of Tonkin; Central Vietnam; South-eastern Vietnam; and
South-western Vietnam (part of Gulf of Thailand). The marine catch is highest in Central and
Southeast Vietnam. The Mekong river delta provides over 75% of the total marine landings and
therefore most of the fishing industry is concentrated in the southern provinces, from Khanh Hoa to
Ca Mau. The fishing areas can be divided into inshore-coastal fishery and offshore fishery. Inshore
waters are the areas within 6 miles from the coastline. According to a recent evaluation, the marine
fishery resources potential has been estimated at 4.2 million tons of which the annual allowable catch
is 1.7 million tons, including 850,000 tons of demersal fish; 700,000 tons of small pelagics; and
120,000 tons of oceanographic pelagic fish. In 2010, the total catch from marine capture fisheries
reached 2.5 million tons, already exceeding the allowable catch by almost 50%.
There is an ancient tradition for both collecting and capturing fish direct from the beach or in shallow
mangroves, estuaries, lagoons and river deltas, helped by the influence of tidal water. A variety of
simple, as well as sophisticated, fishing gear is used to capture all kinds of fish and shellfish species.
This provides a substantial amount of protein to the coastal population. In 2010, about 107,500 small
fishing boats were operating near shore, of which 5,200 boats are non-motorized boats (fishing along
the coast up to 4-5 m deep) and the remaining 102,300 are small motorized boats (<90 CV, fishing in
near-shore areas). All these fishing boats operate directly from the beach without using harbor
facilities. The most common fishing gear includes trawls, gillnets, longlines, lift nets, traps, etc.
Although near-shore resources are reported to have been declining considerably in the past decades,
the number of small fishing boats operating near shore has not decreased. On the contrary, it now
tended to increase in the recent years partially due to the government’s fuel pricing subsidy.
1.2. Project Information
Currently, there has been growing concern within government and among stakeholders in promoting
more sustainable development of the fisheries sector to protect and sustainably use the natural capital
on the coast as a means to secure competitiveness of the sector and to sustain the coastal economy and
related livelihoods. Responding to the request of the Government of Vietnam, the World Bank
prepares a Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project (CRSD) to improve the
management of coastal resources in support of sustainable fisheries in selected coastal provinces of
Vietnam.
1.3. Project Objectives
The project aims at improving the management of coastal resources in support of sustainable fisheries
in selected coastal provinces of Vietnam. This objective will be achieved through the project
components.
1.4. Project Components
(1) Institutional capacity strengthening for sustainable coastal resources management;
(2) Good practices for sustainable near-shore aquaculture;
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(3) Good practices for sustainable near-shore capture fisheries;
(4) Project management, monitoring, and evaluation.
1.5. Project Scope of Work
The project will be implemented in 8 coastal provinces among 29 coastal provinces in Vietnam,
including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in the North Central, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and
Khanh Hoa provinces in the South Central, and Soc Trang and Ca Mau provinces in the Mekong
delta.
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II. SOCIAL ASSESSMENT METHODS
2.1. Objectives of Social Assessment
The objective of social assessment (SA) is to integrate social background in project design to
minimize negative social impacts and maximize positive social impacts. Also, SA studies will provide
input for design of alternative livelihood activities for the poor communities that depend deeply on the
exhausting near-shore fishery resources.
2.2. Tasks and Scope of Social Assessment
Tasks of Social Assessment






Determining and analyzing levels of dependence on coastal resources, exploitation and
use of coastal resources for consuming and commercial purposes.
Determining risks relating to current use and exploitation activities by local communities,
including agricultural, fishery, and capture fishery activities, that lead to unsustainable
use of natural resources.
Finding solutions to mitigate risks through sustainable aquaculture and capture fishery.
Finding chances of developing alternative livelihoods and earnings
Assessing participation of local communities and ethnic groups in the project activities in
various components and recommending solutions to enhance their participation.
Preparing a Processing Framework based on results of consultation with capture fishery
communities.
Scope of Assessment
Social assessment is a necessary activity of the CRSD project. However, due to limited time, social
assessment has been conducted in only three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang.
The five remaining CRSD project provinces will carry out social assessment themselves to develop
proposals for Component 3 – Sustainable near-shore capture fisheries. The SA report could be a
reference for other project provinces for self carrying out the social assessment. It provides a social
basic for building project, measures for minimining and mitigating project negative impacts and
enhancing project benefits.
2.3. Social Assessment Methods
To collect socio-economic information at the household level fully and precisely, the partiparatory
approach was used in this survey. Accordingly, both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied
to gather information. In addition, document review and direct observation were used during the
survey.
2.3.1 Survey Methods
a) “Document Review” method
This method aims at an understanding of development history and operation of the project localities
through analysis of documents relating to these localities. This method can provide basic information
on the project areas or several specific indicators. At the same time, it can provide a sound basis to
explain on-going changes. This is a good beginning for assessment and can be treated as an alternative
method of baseline surveys. Also, primilinary document review can help to determine information
gaps and main issues that need to be dealt with during further analysis and evaluation.
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The Consultant worked with relevant parties at provincial/ district/ commune levels to (i) Identifying
and preparing lists of all available and accessible information sources, including documents and
reports on socio-economic development, available statistic data of the project communes, districts, and
provinces; (ii) Prioritizing the sources that can provide useful information in terms of cost and time
efficiency; and (iii) Identifying existing information gaps, then, in combination with the use of the
qualitative method (through questionnaires) and the quantitative method (through interviews with
main information providers and group discussion) to gain useful information to fill in such gaps.
Moreover, a scientific basis and actual practices for social assessment of the project areas are also
provided through collection and analysis of socio-economic studies relating to development of the
fisheries sector and coastal areas, for example, “Strategic economic analysis of the fisheries sector”,
“Analysis of poverty in the fisheries sector”, “A study on household livelihood strategies”, “Socioeconomic surveys in some provinces”, national investigations and surveys such as “National Survey
on Population and Housing”, “Annual investigations on living standards”, “Employment surveys”.
b) Quantitative method
The quantitative method is a sample survey method used to collect information from a large number
of households through one questionnaire of specific questions designed for the purpose of statistical
analysis. The survey results will establish the basis for other review and assessment because they
allow collection of data focusing on specific issues and activities or indicators from one sample. This
method requires a sample selection strategy to evaluate household socio-economic status.
c) Qualitative method
This method aims to collect general information, clarify or gather viewpoints on a specific issue with a
small group of selected people representing different points of view or different groups (e.g. the
nearshore capture group, the aquaculture group, the trading/ fishery services group, the ethnic minority
group, the female group, the group of leaders of the authorities, unions, and organizations, etc.). Also,
this method can be used to develop unanimity of the local people about the project. Group discussion
is an effective method to evaluate the stakeholders’ viewpoints on the project and identify concerning
issues. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats”) matrix analysis methods and
prioritization in group discussion can determine priority project issues and activities for social groups.
Guidelines on group discussion are prepared by different topics and for different groups. Apart from
group discussion, interviews with some relating individuals are carried out to gain more profound
understanding of several concerning issues.
d) Direct observation method
This method helps to collect useful information timely through observing on-going issues at the
survey areas to understand assessment results more clearly. This method is extremely important in
support of the data obtained through the aforesaid methods. It can be used to appreciate the contexts in
which information is gained, and assist explaining survey results.
e) Community consultation
The targeted groups of fishermen selected for consultation consit of the fisherwomen group, the
fishing group, the ethnic fishing group, the aquaculture group, and the processing/ trading/ fishery
services group. The contents of consultation include: information on the project activities
(concentrating on Components 2 and 3), the project potential impacts (Components 2 and 3), impact
mitigation measures such as compensation, allowances, assistance, and even alternative livelihoods
proposed by the local people.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 13
The potential ethnic minority group is selected for particular consultation. Free, prior and
informed consultations with the Kh’mer near-shore fishermen were held in Au Tho B village,
Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district, Soc Trang province.
2.3.2 Selection of Samples and Information to be Collected
a) Principles of sample selection
Objects of the sample surveys are the households whose livelihoods and incomes depend on nearshore
capture fishery and exploitation. Samples will be selected randomly from lists of eligible households
that meet the above criterion and are categorized by variable groups, for instance: gender, ethnicity,
not having productive land or means such as ships and boats. The selected survey samples should be
households’ representatives and in the age range from 18 to 60 years old. Because of limited time and
budget, the sample size in each province will be 60 households (HHs), making a total of 180 HHs in
three project provinces. In statistic theory, this sample size will ensure reliability and statistic
significance.
b) Selection steps
Selection of quantitative samples
The survey samples are selected randomly through following steps:
Step 1: Co-ordinating with the PPMUs to select two representative communes in each
province, paying attention to geographic location (being adjacent to lagoons and coastal areas),
population structures, and poverty status in each commune.
Step 2: Basing on the above criteria of sample selection, selecting 02-03 representative
villages in each commune, depending on actual situations, then preparing lists of eligible HHs
that meet the sample selection criteria.
Step 3: From the lists of HHs selected in each village, selecting randomly 30 HHs that
represent various household groups. The total number of samples is 60 HHs from selected
villages in 2 communes.
Selection of qualitative samples
Key information providers will be selected for in-depth interviews, including: Deputy
Directors of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development who is in charge
of fishery, district staff who are responsible for fishery, chairmen/ vice chairmen of commune
people’s committees (CPCs), heads of villages, representatives of fishery capture households
(nearshore and offshore capture), representatives of aquaculture households, and representatives
of processing, trading, and fishery services households.
Groups for group discussion include: (i) groups of key commune officials and unions and
organizations (agricultural officials, cadastral staff, chairmen/ vice chairmen of Fatherland
Fronts, Farmers’ Unions, Women’s Unions, Veterans’ Unions, and Youth Unions); (ii) groups of
local people, including representatives of households whose livelihoods and incomes depend
entirely on fishery (capture fishery, aquaculture, fishery processing, trading, and services),
groups of households that have other livelihoods and earnings apart from fishery, groups of
young men operating in agriculture, fishery, and forestry. Each group will comprise of 8 to 10
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 14
people. Such techniques as “Participatory rural assessment (PRA)” will be applied to collection
such information as “Crop planning”, “Mapping of residential areas” and “Analysis of
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats” (SWOT).
2.3.3 Needed Information and Indicators
At the provincial level
Socio-economic statistic data of the provinces, including natural land areas, population by
male/female, urban/rural, ethnic minorities, labourers and employement, job structures, income
structures and incomes per capita 2008 - 2010, poverty, technical and social infrastructure, socioeconomic development strategies 2011-2015 and vision to 2020, including development planning and
plans for the fisheries sector. Policies on compensation, assistance and allowances, resettlement, and
ethnic minority development of the provinces.
At the district level
Socio-economic statistic data of the districts, including natural land areas, population by male/female,
urban/rural, ethnic minorities, labourers and employment, job structures, income structures and
incomes per capita 2008 - 2010, poverty, technical and social infrastructure, socio-economic
development strategies 2011-2015 and vision to 2020, including development planning and plans for
the fisheries sector.
At the communal level
Socio-economic statistic data of the districts, including natural land areas, current land use status,
limits of residential and agricultural land in the communes, population by male/ female, agriculture/
non-agriculture, ethnic minorities, labourers and employment, job structures, income structures and
incomes per capita 2008-2010, percentages of poor HHs, technical and social infrastructure, including
infrastructure of the fisheries sector, socio-economic development plans 2011-2015. Please see
Annexes for more details.
At the household level
HHs’ heads: names, ages, genders, ethnicity, occupations, incomes, education attainment; HHs’
members: numbers of members, genders, occupations, numbers of children in the school age and
going to schools, education attainment of each member; livelihoods; land and land use status; risks of
production; accessibility to public services and resources; abilities of occupational transition
(alternative livelihoods); attitudes and viewpoints on the project.
2.3.4 Information Collection Tools
To collect the aforesaid information and data at various levels, a set of tools has been
prepared (see Annexes), including:

01 semi-structure questionnaire to collect information at the household level.

04 guidelines on in-depth interview and group discussion at all levels.

03 forms to collect statistic data at the provincial, district, and communal levels.
2.3.5 Information Processing and Analysis
Quantitative data are processed with the statistic analysis software SPSS 11.5 (statistic processing
program). Qualitative results are processed with NVivo 8.0 software.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 15
Processing and analysing quantitative data: The statistic data collected with the questionnaire are
processed with the statistic software SPSS. A frequency table with correlation tables are extracted for
analysis and report preparation. Key variables are communes, provinces, 20% income groups, genders
of households’ heads, and ethnic minorities. The communes selected for surveys are those typical for
coastal areas of the CRSD project. Theese communes share comme features of dependence on nearshore fishery resources for their livelihoods, and also have individual features of livelihood resources,
such as natural conditions of lagoons, isles, estuaries, shorelines, climate and fishery resources, ethnic
minorities, regional cultures, productive land resources, development of the fishery economy or
commodity agriculture, and fishing gear. These features have different influence on dependence on
and risks of livelihoods as well as capacities of creating alternative livelihoods. In addition, the
correlation between the variables such as incomes, occupations, livelihoods, poverty, ethnic minorities
and independent variables such as genders, ages, education attainment is analysized to find out
relationships and affecting factors. Collected data are stored in a database to provide baseline data for
monitoring and evaluation durin gthe project implementation stage.
Processing and analysing qualitative information: Qualitative information collected through in-depth
interviews and group discussions is processed with Nvivo program by topics which need to be
assessed and analysized. Qualitative results will help to explain more clearly quantitative results and
reflect viewpoints as well as the local people’s agreement or objection to the project and help to find
out the issues that the local people are interested in.
2.4 Assessment Implementation
Since 11/4/2011, the Consultant has gathered and analysized documents relating to the study tasks and
worked with relevant authorities and agencies at the central level and the WB, developed quantitative
and qualitative sets of tools, sent table of contents, lists of information, and specific workplans to the
surveyed provinces: Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang (see Annexes for further information on
survey plans in the project provinces).
Below is the survey plan:
Activity
April
May
June
Mobilizing specialists
Collecting and reviewing documents
Preparing sets of tools
Field visits
Processing data
Preparing a report (draft)
Presenting assessment results
Finalizing the report to submit to the WB
The Consultant conducted site surveys in order to implement tasks of social assessment in Soc Trang
and Khanh Hoa from 8/5/2011 to 20/5/2011 and in Thanh Hoa from 22/5/2011 to 29/5/2011. Being
assisted actively by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa,
Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang provinces, leaders of the district/ commune people’s committees and
various sectors and agencies, and the surveyed fisherman communities, the Consultant obtained
necessary information at the provincial/ district/ communal levels and 194 household questionnaires,
organized 30 group discussions, consulted the communities (including the capture fishery groups, the
aquaculture groups, the fishery processing and services groups, the female groups, the poor groups,
the youth groups, the groups of communal officials, etc.). The Consultant conducted one consultation
session with the Kh’mer fishing groups in Au Tho B village, Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district,
Soc Trang province. They are poor HHs without land and fishing boats, their main livelihoods are
manual near-shore capture (with manual fishing gear) and working for boat owners. In addition, when
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 16
fishinig is not viable, they work as hired labourers for any work in and out of the commune. Their
education attainment is very low (averagely 3/12). Out of 15 interviewed people, only 3 people can
read Vietnamese, yet cannot speak fluently. The remaining do not understand Vietnamese, therefore,
during consultation, a Kh’mer interpreter was required.
A lot of comments of the communities on dependence, livelihood risks of nearshore capture fishery
and aquaculture, opportunities and alternative livelihoods of nearshore capture fishery, abilities of the
communities’ participation in the CRSD project have been obtained through group discussions and
community consultation. The comments have been used for analysis in this report. The communities’
proposals, together with their active participation in the CRSD project at their localities, have been
considered as an important social basis to be integrated in proposals of sustainable livelihoods of the
social assessment report.
III. SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFORMATIN OF THE PROJECT AREAS
3.1 Natural and Population Features of the Project Provinces
3.1.1 Natural Conditions
The total natural land area of 8 project provinces is about 5,861,300 ha, of which areas of agricultural
and fishery land is about 1,312,400 ha, of forestry land is 2,657,400 ha, of residential land is 111,200
ha, and of specialized land is 321,400 ha. The total shorelines of 8 provinces are 1,221 km.
Table 1: Land areas in project provinces
Project
province
Thanh Hoa
Nghe An
Ha Tinh
Binh Dinh
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Ca Mau
Total area
(ha)
1,113,300
1,649,100
602,600
604,000
521,800
331,200
533,200
Agricultural
land
(ha)
245,700
250,100
117,500
138,100
88,600
205,800
144,900
Total
5,861,300
1,312,400
Source: Statistic data of provinces, 2009
Forestry land
(ha)
Specialized
land
(ha)
Residential
land
(ha)
566,000
915,900
339,800
259,200
211,400
11,400
97,400
67,300
53,200
34,300
25,300
82,800
23,300
21,000
50,200
20,200
8,200
7,800
6,200
6,000
6,700
102
82
137
2,657,400
321,400
111,200
1221
Shoreline
km
385
72
254
3.1.2. Population
The total population of central northern and southern provinces is 11,053,590 people and of the
Mekong delta provinces is 17,191,470 people (2009), of which populations of the project
provinces are as follows: Thanh Hoa – 3,400,595 people, Nghe An – 2,912,041 people, Ha Tinh –
1,227,038 people, Binh Dinh - 1,486,465 people, Phu Yen – 862,231 people, Khanh Hoa – 1,157,604
people, Soc Trang – 1,292,853 people, and Ca Mau – 1,206,938 people. Populations over 15 years
old working in the fisheries sector in the central northern and southern provinces and the
Mekong delta are 3%, 4.3% and 8.1% respectively (2009). Ethnic minorities working in the
fisheries sector (fishery capture and aquaculture) are mainly the Kh’mer, concentrating on Soc
Trang and Ca Mau provinces.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 17
Table 2: Population of the project regions and provinces, 2009
No.
Region/ Province
I.
Central
northern region
Thanh Hoa
Nghe An
Ha Tinh
Central
southern region
Binh Dinh
Phu Yen
Khanh Hoa
Mekong delta
1
2
3
II.
4
5
6
III.
Population in 2009
Male
Female
Total
1,680,018
1,445,533
606,713
3,400,595
2,912,041
1,227,038
1,720,577
1,466,508
620,325
Population over 15 years
old working in fishery
3%
4.3%
724,624
431,558
571,632
761,841
430,673
585,972
1,486,465
862,231
1,157,604
Soc Trang
642,586
Ca Mau
606,606
Nguồn: Số liệu thống kê các tỉnh
650,267
600,332
1,292,853
1,206,938
8.1%
7
8
3.2 Features of survey samples
The survey has collected 195 HH questionnaires for which HHs’ heads count for 80.5% and the
Kh’mer people count for 8.8%. 78.5% HHs’ heads were born in the survey areas, 12.0% were
migrants since 1986 (starting of the Renovation), 66.7% HHs had fishermen and 31.2% HHs had at
least two fishermen.
Social demograpic features of HHs’ members
The male percentage is a little bit higher than female percentage: 50.4% vs. 49.6%. The group of
people under 15 years old makes up 24.8%, the group of 15-55 years old: 66.3%, and the group of
over 55 years old – 8.8%. In general, the survey areas have young populations, dependence rates are
low, yet employment pressures are high. Illiterate proportion: 4.6%, one third finish primary
education, another one third finish intermediate education, and 13.1% finish secondary education.
4.9% of HHs’ members have passed training courses from short-term courses to university training
(3.2% have certificates of university and colleges). At the coastal areas of three survey provinces,
proportions of people under 15 years old in Khanh Hoa (20.5%) and Soc Trang (23.0%) are
significantly lower than the corresponding figure of rural areas in the country (28.3%) as recorded in
the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008, meanwhile this proportion in Thanh Hoa is
higher (31.3%). The percentage of people over 55 years old in the survey area in Thanh Hoa is much
lower than those of the other two provinces, only by a half.
Table 3: Social demographic features of the surveyed HHs’ memebers
Social demographic features
1 Male
Gender
2 Female
1 <15
2 15-25
Age
3 26-35
4 36-55
Province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Percentage
Percentage
Member %
Member %
152
49.5%
185
50.0%
155
50.5%
185
50.0%
63
20.5%
85
23.0%
82
26.7%
85
23.0%
57
18.6%
68
18.4%
73
23.8%
94
25.4%
Total
Thanh Hoa
Percentage
Member %
161
51.8%
150
48.2%
97
31.3%
73
23.5%
38
12.3%
85
27.4%
Percentage
Member %
498
50.4%
490
49.6%
245
24.8%
240
24.3%
163
16.5%
252
25.5%
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Social demographic features
5 >55
1 Single
2 Married
Marital
3 Divorced
status
4 Widows/ widowers
5
Small (under
marriage age)
0 Illiterate
1 Primary education
2 Intermediate edu.
3 Secondary edu.
4
Technical
sencondary
education
Education
5
Short-term
attainment,
vocational
training
professional
6
Long-term
levels
vocational training
7 Junior college
8 University
10 Never go to
schools
11 Under school age
page 18
Province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Percentage
Percentage
Member %
Member %
32
10.4%
38
10.3%
95
30.9%
89
24.1%
138
45.0%
189
51.1%
2
.5%
11
3.6%
5
1.4%
Total
Thanh Hoa
Percentage
Member %
17
5.5%
78
25.1%
129
41.5%
7
2.3%
Percentage
Member %
87
8.8%
262
26.5%
456
46.2%
2
.2%
23
2.3%
63
20.5%
85
23.0%
97
31.2%
245
24.8%
6
89
118
41
2.0%
29.3%
38.8%
13.5%
35
149
95
48
9.5%
40.3%
25.7%
13.0%
4
100
114
40
1.3%
32.2%
36.7%
12.9%
45
338
327
129
4.6%
34.3%
33.2%
13.1%
4
1.3%
1
.3%
5
.5%
4
1.3%
1
.3%
5
.5%
2
.7%
4
1.1%
1
.3%
7
.7%
4
8
1.3%
2.6%
2
2
.5%
.5%
9
7
2.9%
2.3%
15
17
1.5%
1.7%
2
.5%
2
.6%
4
.4%
31
8.4%
32
10.3%
90
9.1%
27
8.9%
Note: In the survey, the fishing groups are groups whose incomes derive mainly from fishing, the fishery
combination groups are HHs whose earnings come from both fishing and other fishery operations, the other
combinations groups are HHs whose incomes derive mainly from non-fishery operations.
Illiteracy percentage of all HHs members of the survey samples is 4.6%, particularly high in Soc
Trang province where quite a lot of Kh’mer people live – 9.5% in comparison with low percentage in
Thanh Hoa – 1.3% and Khanh Hoa – 2.0%. The proportion of members over 14 years old with
primary education attainment in Soc Trang (38.0%) is much higher than those of the two remaining
provinces (over 28%). This means that intermediate education universalization in coastal provinces in
the Mekong delta is extremely urgent in creating sustainable alternative livelihoods for fishing (see
further in Risks of alternative livelihoods relating to human resources capital below). According to the
data and information gathered, the provision of special policies for ethnic minority groups, is required
so as to ensure the right incentives for their children to attend school, reduce the school attendance
drop. This would help in the medium term, to alleviate the pressure on fishing resources.
The average number of household members of the whole survey samples is 5.05 people, of which the
fishing group (4.79) and the lowest income group (4.5) have the lowest figures. This figure of the
survey area is much higher than that of the rural area in Vietnam (5.05 against 4.14) as recorded in the
Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008. The average numbers of household members of
the survey samples in coastal areas in 3 provinces (Thanh Hoa 5.21; Khanh Hoa 4.97; Soc Trang 4.97)
are also significantly higher than those of the central northern region, the central southern coastal
region, and the Mekong delta (4.08; 4.11; and 4.16 respectively). This indicates high pressure of
livelihoods on coastal households and communities.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 19
Chart 1: HHs’ average population and labourers by occupation groups and 20% income
groups
HH's average population
5.05
4.79
5.25
3.87
3.05
2.94
HHs' average no. of labourers (person)
4.96
4.5
3.6
2.93
5.14
4.93
3.31
3.8
5.3
3.51
5.45
3.95
The average number of HH labourers of the whole survey samples is 3.05, of which the fishing group:
2.94, and the lowest income group: 2.93 are groups that have the lowest figures of occupation and
income groups. The average number of HH labourer of the surevy area is much higher than that of the
rural area as reported in Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008 (3.05 compared to 2.5).
However, the above difference is affected because this survey considers people who have jobs and
incomes, not those in the working age 15-60. In reality, at coastal areas, fishermen can go near-shore
fishing in the age range from 13-15 years old to 70 years old. If education at coastal areas is developed
and the early school drop-off by children is overcomed, the average percentage of household labourers
(with incomes) might decline. In Thanh Hoa, the average rate of HH labourer is the lowest compared
to Soc Trang and Khanh Hoa, yet, the average number of HH members is the highest, this means the
actual dependence rate is the highest. The high average numbers of labourers per HH in the survey
areas imply that settlement of alternative livelihoods for fishery capture will encounter various
difficulties.
Table 4: Average numbers of HH members and labourers
Average no. Average no. of HH structure by population scope (%)
of
HH HH labourer 1-2 persons 3-4 persons 5-8 persons 9 persons
members
(person)
ore more
(person)
5.05
3.05
0.5
39.0
59.0
1.5
Total samples
By communes
Ninh Van
4.97
Ninh Loc
4.97
Ngu Loc
5.52
Ninh Hai
4.87
Vinh Hai
5.42
An Thach
4.57
By province
Khanh Hoa
4.97
Soc Trang
4.97
Thanh Hoa
5.21
By gender of HHs’
heads
Male
5.06
Female
4.94
3.44
3.93
3.83
2.93
3.76
3.14
0
0
0
3.3
0
0
43.8
41.4
24.1
30.0
31.6
59.5
53.1
58.6
75.9
66.7
63.2
40.5
3.1
0
0
0
5.3
0
3.67
3.47
3.36
0
0
1.6
42.6
46.6
26.2
55.7
50.7
72.1
1.6
2.7
0
3.49
3.59
0.6
0
39.9
29.4
57.9
70.6
1.7
0
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 20
Incomes:
The average monthly income per capita of the total survey samples is VND 1,072,200, about
2.68 times higher than the new poverty line of the country in 2011. Khanh Hoa province has the
average income of nearly 2 times higher than the poverty line, and Soc Trang and Thanh Hoa
provinces have the average incomes 2.9 and 3.1 times higher, respectively. The lowest income
group (group 1) has the average income equals to 79.8% of the poverty line (two thirds (69.2%)
of members of this group are fishermen), the highest income group (group 5) has the average
income 8.3 times higher than that of group 1 (the poorest) and 2.5 times higher than that of group
4. Social stratification at the coastal region in 2011 is very wide and nearly equals to social
stratification of the country as recorded in the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008
(the average income of group 5 is 8.9 and 2.3 times higher than those of groups 1 and 4
respectively).
Table 5: Social stratification by incomes
SA survey 2011
319,1
570,1
764,4
1,053,9
2,639,0
20% income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Source: Survey data and GSO
VHLSS 2008
275,0
477,2
699,9
1,067,4
2,458,2
The average income per capita of the fishery combination group is the highest, then comes the
capture group and the non-fishery economic combination group, two of which have
approximately equal average incomes.
Chart 2: Average income per capita by occupation groups and 20% income groups
Group 5
Group 4
Total samples
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Fisheries
Fishery
combination
Other
combinations
Group 3
Group 2
Group 1
Average income per capita
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 21
IV. ASSESSMENT RESULTS
4.1. Key Livelihood Activities in the Survey Areas (profile, level of dependence on coastal
resources, advantages and disadvantages)
Occupational features: In the survey samples, 66.7% HHs have fishermen and 31.2% HHs have two
or more fishermen. Fishing is the main occupation of more than one half (52.4%) of labourers. Other
fishery occupations such as aquaculture, fishery processing, and fishery services count for 10.3% of
labourers. 62.7% of the occupation structure have jobs relating to fisheries. Cultivation and breeding
are main occupations of 11.2% of labourers. Industrial workers – 4.8%, construction and handicraft/
small-scaled industries – 1.0%, the State’s staff – 3.9%... These data indicate high livelihood
dependence on capture fishery of the coastal communities, yet since their main facilities are small
boats (see asset features), the community livelihoods rely mainly on near-shore fishing.
Chart 3: Main occupation structure of all HH labourers
Planting rice/ crops
60
Others (indicate clearly in
corresponding boxes) …
50
Breeding
40
30
20
Officials
10
Aquaculture
0
Commerce, trading/ business
Handicraft, small-scaled
industry, construction, industrial
workers
Total sample
Capture fishery
Processing, fishery supporting
services
Demographic features of fishing labourers – for whom livelihood changes are required:
17.7% of labourers are women, working mainly in small jolly-boats in nearshore areas or catching
without boats. Hence, the subject of fishery capture conversion of the CRSD project is mainly men;
however, conversion is also needed for female labourers working in fishery capture because they
focus on near-shore exploitation.
One third (32.9%) of fishermen are young (15-30 years old) that have high adaptability and good
health to facilitate livelihood conversion, including offshore fishing and non-fishery occupation
training. 13.9% of fishing labourers are over 50 years old and can encounter many difficulties in
occupation changing since they have worked many years in seas. Most of fishermen (53.1%) are in
the middle age – being the bread-winners of their families – and will also have various difficulties in
occupation changing because most of them have low education attainment and have not received any
vocational training. Vocational training for them is also not easy because of economic burdens that
they are bearing. Therefore, the middle-aged fishermen group is the big and main group for livelihood
conversion of the CRSD project.
Of fishing labourers, 8.2% is illiterate, 36.9% have primary education attainment, 42.2% have
intermediate education attainment, and 9.8% have secondary education attainment. Only 2.9% of
labourers have received short-term or long-term vocational training, lower than that of labourers over
15 years old of the whole survey sample – 6.3%. Low education attainment and occupation skills as
mentioned above is one of main obstacles for sustainable livelihood conversion.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 22
The female-headed HH group has lower percentage of fishermen compared to that of the male-headed
HH group (40.0% against 53.5%). The lowest income group has the highest percentage of fishermen
(69.2%) compared to other income groups of which the corresponding proportions are from 40.0% to
56.7%. The ethnic minority group has a higher percentage of fishermen compared to that of the Kinh
group (55.6% against 51.8%). Therefore, for job changes, due attention should be given to the low
income group and the ethnic minority group, that have high rates of fishing labourers.
The fishing group has 99.2% of members work in capture fishery, including fishery exploitation
without boats. This means that children of fishing HHs usually follow their parents and it is one task
of the CRSD project to help most of fishermen’s children to live sustainably on non-fishing jobs in
order to reduce long-term pressure on near-shore fishery resources.
Main
occupation
Cultivating
rice/ crops
Breeding
Aquaculture
Capture
fishery
Fishery
processing
Fishery
services
Handicraft/
small-scaled
industry
Construction
Trading
The
staff
Industrial
workers
Others
State’s
Table 6: Labourers’ main occupations (including all HH members involving in labouring)
Total samples
7.5
3.7
6.4
52.4
3.1
0.8
0.6
0.4
6.6
3.9
4.8
9.7
By communes
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
18.6
4.1
0
1.6
8.5
23.0
4.3
0
35.6
23.0
52.9
64.1
3.4
1.4
15.7
0
0
2.7
2.9
0
1.7
0
2.9
0
3.4
0
0
0
6.8
14.9
10.0
12.5
8.5
5.4
2.9
0
3.4
13.5
2.9
3.1
5.1
12.2
1.4
1.6
1.7
4.0
64.1
62.6
0.9
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.7
0
5.1
2.0
3.4
3.0
17.9
12.1
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By gender of HHs’
heads
Male
5.1
15.2
5.1
0
4.3
17.
2
0
1.0
7.7
3.8
5.9
53.5
2.7
0.9
0.2
0.2
6.5
3.8
5.0
9.7
Female
5.0
2.5
12.5
40.0
7.5
0
5.0
2.5
7.5
5.0
2.5
10.0
(lowest
6.4
0
2.6
69.2
2.6
0
0
1.3
3.8
2.6
0
11.5
(highest
6.7
5.7
7.0
11.3
2.2
5.7
7.0
2.8
5.6
2.9
11.0
5.7
56.7
52.4
40.0
50.0
1.1
0
4.0
7.5
0
2.9
1.0
0
1.1
0
1.0
0.9
1.1
0
0
0
8.9
4.8
7.0
8.5
2.2
3.8
4.0
6.6
4.4
6.7
8.0
3.8
10.0
15.2
10.0
2.8
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
By occupation
7.3
9.3
4.2
0
7.3
0
51.8
55.6
3.5
0
0.9
0
0.7
0
0.5
0
7.5
0
4.0
3.7
5.4
0
7.0
31.5
Capture fishery
0
0
0
99.2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.8
0
Fishery combination
5.8
5.1
10.6
41.3
5.1
1.4
0.7
0
8.9
3.1
6.1
11.9
Other combinations
33.3
5.3
0
0
0
0
1.8
3.5
10.5
17.5
7.0
21.1
By 20% income group
Group
1
income)
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group
5
income)
By ethnicity
Asset features:
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 23
In the survey samples, 69.0% of HHs have fishing boats of various types. The percentages of HHs
with juks and boats of less than 20 CV is 22.1%, from >20CV to <90 CV is 43.3% and over 90CV is
only 3.6%. The proportion of HHs with fishing gear and nets counts for only 67.5%. The fishing
group has the proportion of HHs with boats and junks higher than that of the fishery combination
group (88.3% compared to 68.6%), yet, the fishing group has nearly one third of HHs have boats <
20CV and more than one half can only go in-shore fishing (>20CV-<90CV). Only 40% of the lowest
income group has boats and junks of various types (yet capacities less than 90CV), meanwhile other
income groups have 60% to more than 80% of HHs with boats. Particularly, most of boats of > 90CV
belong to the highest income group. Only 29.4% of the ethnic minority group has fishing boats
compared to 73.2% of the Kinh group, but most of those boats are less than 20CV. Meanwhile, 94.1%
of ethnic minority HHs have fishing gear of various types. This implies that most of ethnic minority
HHs carry out near-shore exploitation without boats and they are important subjects for alternative
livelihood conversion. The proportion of fishing boats of the female-headed HH group is 64.7%,
lower than that of the male-headed HH group – 69.4%. It is noticeable that average incomes per capita
are in correlative relation with ownership of boats by capacities. The <20CV boat group has an
average income per capita of VND 861.2000, meanwhile, the 20 CV - < 90CV boat group has an
average income per capita of 1.4 times higher and the > 90CV boat group has an average income of
3.1 times higher than the <20 CV boat group. Thus, the average income per capita of the fishing group
(most of the members possess <20CV and <90CV boats, operating near-shore and in-shore) is the
lowest, only VND 883.300 per capita per month, equals to 70.5% of that of the fishery combination
group and 98.0% of the non-fishery group. The ethnic minority fishing group also has the lowest
income because they mainly do near-shore fishing with small boats and manual utilities. Therefore,
investment in off-shore fishing boats can be an alternative livelihood option of the CRSD project, in
terms of incomes.
Table 7: Percentages of HHs with fishing boats/ operating in aquaculture
Total samples
By commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
By occupation group
Capture fishery
Fishery combination
Other combinations
By 20% income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
By ethnicity
Motorized
junks/
boats
<20CV
22.1
Fishing boats Fishing boats Fishing gear.
>20
and >90CV
fishing nets
<90CV
43.3
3.6
67.5
15.6
10.3
6.9
73.3
13.2
16.2
9.7
6.9
82.8
23.3
47.4
81.1
3.2
0
25.0
3.3
7.9
2.7
9.7
10.3
86.2
100
86.8
100
10.0
93.2
93.4
13.1
15.1
39.3
2.3
64.4
82.5
1.7
5.5
3.3
29.6
21.2
4.0
52.9
44.4
12.0
5.8
3.0
0
74.3
74.8
20.0
15.0
35.7
14.3
35.1
10.0
30.0
35.7
51.5
40.5
61.5
0
2.4
2.9
0
12.8
45.0
69.0
76.1
72.9
76.9
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
By gender of HHs’ heads
Male
Female
page 24
Motorized
junks/
boats
<20CV
22.6
17.6
Fishing boats Fishing boats Fishing gear.
>20
and >90CV
fishing nets
<90CV
46.6
4.0
75.4
11.8
0
94.1
22.5
17.6
42.9
47.1
4.0
0
69.5
47.0
Chart 4: Percentages of HHs with productive land by occupation and income groups
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
Agricultural land
Ponds, lakes, water bodies
Percentage of HHs hiring land
0
In the survey samples, only one fifth of HHs have agricultural land, 19.0% have lakes, ponds,and
water bodies, 7.2% HHs hire land of various types and 4.1% HHs do not have residential land. Soc
Trang province (in the Mekong delta) has the highest proportion of HHs with agricultural land 37.0%, Khanh Hoa province (in the central southern coastal region) has the highest proportion of
water bodies of aquaculture – 31.1%, and Thanh Hoa province seems to have the least areas of
agricultural land and water bodies with only 6.6% HHs having agricultural land and 14.8% HHs
having water bodies. Of the Kh’mer community in Soc Trang province, 41.2% of HHS are using
agricultural land, of which 5.9% rent land, and the remaining have their land allocated. It is not
random that 26.7% of Kh’mer HHs ask for assistance for productive land as an alternative livelihood
option. The average agricultural land area of HHs with land in the survey samples is not low - 5,271
m2/HH, and of the Kh’mer people is 4,742.8m2/HH, yet not enough for commodity production. It is a
problem that most of coastal HH, especially the fishing group, do not have agricultural land. The
aforesaid features present high dependence on near-shore fishing of coastal communities and a fact
that land and water bodies are very scarce resources at the coastal areas and are big difficulties for
livelihood conversion. As a result, review of land resources and water bodies that have not been
utilized effectively at coastal areas is extremely urgent to plan activities on alternative livelihoods of
the CRSD project. In the following proposals of alternative livelihoods, this issue is highly paid
attention to in all surveyed provinces, and wastes of land resources as well as water bodies is
presented; also, options of taking advantage of land resources and water bodies efficiently to create
community-based alternative livelihood activities are presented.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 25
Table 8: Percentates of HHs cultivating land (%)
Total samples
By commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
Agri. land
Residential
land
Ponds,
Percentage of Percentage of
lakes, water HHs
with HHs hiring
bodies
land
land
20.0
95.9
19.0
99
7.2
25
0
0
10.0
23.7
51.4
100
93.1
100
96.7
97.4
89.2
9.4
55.2
20.7
6.7
7.9
18.9
100
100
100
100
100
94.6
0
0
13.8
6.7
5.3
16.2
20.5
37.0
6.6
96.7
93.2
98.4
31.1
12.3
14.8
100
97.3
100
0
11.0
9.8
The job structure in the survey samples in 3 provinces indicated that the fishing makes up a larger part
of the main job, but total aquaculture-related jobs such as fishing and catching, farming, processing,
service make up 62.7% of main jobs of all HH members who are working. In the secondary job
structure of HH members at work, 22.0% related to the aquacultural jobs.
Fishing and
catching
Processing
Aquacultural
service
Handicrafts
Construction
Commerce,
trade
Gov.
workers
Workers
Others
6.4
13.8
52.4 3.1
5.7 1.9
0.8
0.6
0.4
0
6.6
3.8
3.9
0
9.7
39.0
Rice/ upland
crop
Husbandry
Aquaculture
Table 9: Structure of main and secondary jobs of labourers (counting in all HH members
at work) (% of total labourers)
Main jobs
7.5 3.7
Secondary
25.8 9.4
jobs
Source: Survey outcomes
0.6
0
4.8
0
The averaged monthly income per household in the last 12 months in the surveyed HHs reveals that
the fishing, catching, aquatic processing and farming provide the highest income, together with
vegetable and crop cultivation, as well as onion, garlic, and sugar cane planting in Ninh Van. This
means that high dependence of livelihoods on fishery exploitation of coastal communities, and
planting vegetable crops in some localities which have agricultural land resources can be an
effectively alternative livelihood option for near-shore fishing.
Table 10: Averaged income per household in last 12 months from all income sources (on
count of the number of HHs involving in such economic activities)
Nr.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Income source
Rice farming
Vegetables
Fruits
Cattle raising
Aquaculture
Fishing and catching
Income (VND ‘000)
22,000.0
42,218.18
1,000.0
10,416.67
37,833.33
48,798.73
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 26
Income (VND ‘000)
40,083.33
10,500.0
17,266.67
16,051.72
24,533.33
12,729.41
7,200.0
4,471.43
Nr.
Income source
7
Processing aquatic products
8
Aquaculture services
9
Trading aquatic products
10
Hire labor
11
Salaries (including retirement)
12
Non-aquaculture trade, services
13
Handicrafts
14
Forestry (forest planting)
Source: Survey outcomes
However, the average income per capita/month of the fishing and catching group is the lowest (VND
883,300) compared with the aquatic-mix economy group (1.42 times higher than of the
fishing/catching group), and almost equivalent to the non-aquatic mix economy group (VND
901,000). This reflects the trend of integrating different income-sources, taking advantages of all
livelihood resources to increase the household income and diversification of income sources might
and should be one of main orientations to alternative livelihood strategies for near-shore fishing of the
CRSD project. The income gained from other aquaculture-related resources tends to reduce
significantly in the last 2 years, particularly from the 2 most labour-intensive jobs: aquacultural fishing
and catching, and aquaculture (more or less 2/3 of HHs reduced their incomes from these sources).
Chart 5: Surveyees’ assessment on changes of fishery incomes in the past 2 years (% HHs)
77.9
67.9
66.7
46.2
Aquaculture
12.8
27.3
33.3
30.8
23.1
Fisheries
Aquatic product processing
Fishery services
Uncha nged
Decrea sed
Increa sed
Uncha nged
Decrea sed
Increa sed
Increa sed
Uncha nged
9.4
Decrea sed
Increa sed
Uncha nged
Decrea sed
Increa sed
7.1
27.3
Uncha nged
25
Decrea sed
45.5
Aquatic product trading
The above chart indicates a clear decling trend of fishery operations, of which capture fishery and
aquaculture have experienced dramatic declines the most. This may be also the general tendency of
coastal provinces in the project area.
Studying on the economic structure as well as job, income sources in the study communes indicates
that the dependence of the coastal communities on coastal resources is remarkable. Apart from
common features of ecology, sea economies, livelihood resources (which include weaknesses of
human capital quality, etc.), and livelihood risks, coastal areas are quite rich with particular featurs of
each locality. The common features of weaknesses of resources and livelihood risks can lead to
implementation of some common livelihood models such as education enhancement, non-agricultural
vocational training, and job introduction in order to relieve pressures on population and jobs, diversify
income sources, and reduce poverty, etc. The surveyed communes in this report have specific features
of coastal communes as pure-fishery commune (Ngu Loc, Thanh Hoa), communes locating in
estuaries (Hai Ninh, Thanh Hoa), communes locating nearby lagoons (Ninh Loc, Ninh Van, Khanh
Hoa), coastal communes with abundant fishery seeds (Vinh Hai, Soc Trang), coastal communes with
strongly developed agricultural commodity production (cultivation) (An Thach 3, Vinh Hai, Soc
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 27
Trang), and so on. These particular features should be the basis on selection of alternative livelihood
models of the communities, for example, converting fishing boats to transportation service cooperatives can only be carried out in such communes as An Thach 3 where hundreds of thousands of
tons of sugar can are produced as well as there are demands of transporting thousands of tons of
agricultural metarials, etc. Certainly, a selection of alternative livelihood activities needs to be based
on participatory processes with coastal communities.
Ngu Loc commune in Thanh Hoa province is a mono-aquacultural commune, without productive
land, very limited residential land i, and high population density. Main community assets are fishing
ships, boats and tools. The main livelihoods of fishermen fully depend on marine of which 2/3 of ships
and ¾ fishing production comes from near-shore fishing. However, the average income per capita in
Ngu Loc commune remains the highest compared with other 5 surveyed communes. Total catch value
is VND 85 billion, counting for 68.0% of the total economic value of the commune in 2010, the
remaining 32% came from handicraft/ small-scaled industries, commerce, and services. Ngu Loc is
typical of pure coastal communes with limited land and crowded population; therefore, to change
livelihoods for fishing in the condition of scarce productive land should be and avoided altetrnative.
Therefore, alternative livelihood activities here would be converting of fishing activities to effective
and environmentally friendly ones, implementing common models for coastal areas such as education
enhancement, non-agricultural vocational training, and new job introduction moving labourers to
fishery industrial service sector, diversifying income sources, and reducing poverty. The model of
education enhancement, vocational training, and job introduction might be of significant importance
to coastal areas where land is limited and communities with high population density as in the case of
Ngu Loc.
Hai Ninh commune, Thanh Hoa province is a commune located in avery poor estuary, with 6/9
villages involved on aquaculture. The commune has 19.4% of total households and 21.8% of
laborers working in fishing, but 211 HHs, 15 enterprises, 558 laborers – 6.6% of total labor in the
commune participate in knitting fishing nets, ship/boat remedy, processing, aquatic logistic services,
etc. The number of ships and boats increased 264% in the period of 2004-2011, up to 613 ships with a
total capacity of 11,037CV. This helps increase the annual fishing production to 2,890 tons, mainly
from the coastal resources, is a sector gain the highest production value in the commune. Hai Ninh can
be a typical cases of communes locating in an estuary with small fleet of near-shore fishing boats
(78.3% boats of less than 20CV, of which there are many basket boats that have or do not have D6,
D8 engines) and poor households are dominant (44.9% are poor households according to 2010
poverty lines, of which 66.5% poor HHs live in fishing village). The commune has 340 single mothers
who husbands have passed away. With the above-mentioned features, this commune can exploit
hundreds of hectares of coastal land for clam farming, converting fishing activities to effective and
environmentally friendly ones, implementing common models for coastal areas such as education
enhancement, non-agricultural vocational training, and job introduction to reduce population and job
pressure, diversifying income sources, reducing poverty (processing, fishery services, breeding, etc.),
and so on.
Ninh Van, Khanh Hoa: The group discussion with officers in Ninh Van commune can be summarized
as: “The key economic sectors are Agriculture and Industries, and small scaled trade and others. Ninh
Van commune has both forest land, upland-cropping land, and sea, that is convenient for tourism
development. There are some on-going tourism projects but can not solve up the employment problem
in the locality because local labor skills are low and not qualified. In Ninh Van the marine land,
mountain land make up its majority while flat land is only a few, so it is now in trend to shift its
agricultural to industrial development, change the land use from agricultural land to service-based
land, therefore the land for cultivation and husbandry is limited, while the tourism, estate
development and services are developing. The coastal areas are prioritized for tourism and service
development. The difficulties are low-level of labor skills, fishing and seasonal catching practices,
coastal marine resources are being gradually exhausted, while funds for off-shore fishing are
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 28
extremely restricted. Land is gradually being used for agro-industry-oriented purposes, as well as
husbandry land for industrial husbandry and farmstead due to limited local natural resources. Ninh
Van has 58.0% agricultural HHs and 40.4% fishing HHs. The natural gross land area is large but
mainly comprising of forest land. Its cultivated land mainly comprises of upland-cropping land –
47.3ha and perennial planting land – 53.4ha. Upland cropping land, if being reclaimed, can grow
garlic which has high economic value, however, farmers can not afford reclaiming land. Cow raising
is quite developed thanks to a large area of forest and cows graze naturally. Aquacultural land covers
9.8ha and another 64 ha were acquired for the project of Ninh Van intensive breeding shrimp
production and accreditation that is invested by MARD. This area is in Nha Phu lagoon. The coastal
surface area covers 140 ha, but due to the presence of tourism projects, it is hardly to obtain permits
for extensive marine aquaculture, so at present, only one HH farms lobsters regardless breeding
lobsters are available in this marine zone. The catching by marine diving is quite developed in Ninh
Van commune and it is an advantage of labour resources compared with other coastal communes.
Some laborers in the commune work as marine-diving labor in Quang Ngai province and gain some
tens of million VND per month. Ninh Van is quite typical for a coastal commune that has lagoons,
sea, and forests, yet is still poor. There are a lot of tourism projects, although the population is sparse,
there are not enough jobs, tourism covers much areas of water bodies that should be for marine or
lagoon aquaculture. The local people nearly do not get benefits from the relatively abundant marine
and lagoon resources as well as from economic development projects. Ninh Van shrimpstock farming
and verification project can be the one that provides jobs for the locality the most. The commune can
develop centralized garlic production areas. Besides, the commune might implement common models
for coastal areas such as diversifying income sources and reducing poverty (processing, fishery
services, breeding, developing breeding of reproductive cows, etc. with the revolving fund model of
women groups, farmers), education enhancement, non-agricultural vocational training, and job
introduction to reduce population and employment pressure.
Ninh Loc commune – Khanh Hoa province can be a typical commune for lagoon-based livelihoods.
The commune locates along Nha Phu lagoon and the natural area is 2,945ha, of which agricultural
land - 497ha, aquaculture land - 457ha, and forestry land - 763ha. Therefore, the commune has
agricultural economy, capture fishery and aquaculture, as well as some commercial and service
operations because of 3km of the national highway No. 1 passing by. The commune has 3 fishery
villages near the lagoon with the catch and aquaculture outputs are nearly the same and the total
output is about more than 800 tons per year (if there are no disease outbreaks). Ninh Loc has a golden
age of aquaculture along the Nha Phu lagoon in early 2000s with development of industrial or semiindustrial aquaculture leading to mass of mangroves being cut down to expand aquaculture areas.
However, epidemics turned most of farmer’s bank debts burdens unpayable. At present, extensive
farming is practiced in combination with flow-based fishing yet still dealing with uncertain revenues
often turned into losses;. Capture fishery is also declined due to depletion of lagoon fishery
resources, rapid increase in fishing gear, and destructive fishing methods. Meanwhile, the commune’s
agricultural villages are developing more stably though not affluent. It can be said that the Ninh Loc
situation representative for all localities along lagoons in the country when over-exploitation makes
fishery resources exhausted and near-lagoon water bodies polluted. Recovery of near-lagoon
mangroves can be a solution to correct the mistakes and recover natural resources. Recovery of
lagoon-side mangroves, in combination with eco-aquaculture, can be a solution to remedy mistakes
and recover lagoon-side natural resources or environment projects such as waste collection projects.
The commune can carry out common models for coastal areas, for example, education enhancement,
non-agricultural vocational training, and job introduction to reduce population and employment
pressure.
Vinh Hai commune in Soc Trang province has a large land area with huge labor resources. The
agricultural economy develops in rice farming (1,000 ha of single-rice cropping, 5,000 tons per year),
upland-cropping (red union – 3,800 ha, 3 crops/year), aquaculture (fish farming: 1,600 ha intensive
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 29
farming, 800 ha extensive farming, yield: 400 tons per year). The fishing sector has 90 ships <30 CV
of which 14 ships <20CV for coastal fishing and gains 400 tons per year. Vinh Hai commune also has
a breeding clam ground spreading along 18 km of coastal line and 2,365 ha of wetland forest where is
a cradle of breeding goby fish and crab stock. This is a huge natural resource of Vinh Hai commune
but it is now over-caught and uncontrolled catching because many fishermen coming from other
places catch here. Currently, the commune has more than 1,000 landless Khme households. The land
pool for cultivation in the commune no longer runs over. However, there are more than 500 ha of
productive land belongs to 2 dissolved plantations in the commune. According to the commune
leaders, this land is rented by different enterprises and companies but not being used profitably due to
without infrastructures investments and being encroached by many households. If the land is
appropriated by the DPC Vinh Hai and would be provided with irrigation and drainage infrastructure,
and assigned to landless households, the problem 1,000 Khme landless households would be solved
up. The resettlement and cultivation settlement model which have gained success under the mangrove
project in Soc Trang could replicated for Vinh Hai or other communes with similar conditions.
An Thach 3 commune, Cu Lao Dung district, Soc Trang is dominated with agricultural economy and
the main plants are sugar canes (1,600 ha for a yield of 178,500 tons per year), tobacco plants (105 ha
with a yield of 6,020 tons per year). The husbandry sector has over 500 cows, 2,600 pigs and 10,000
poultry. The aquaculture sector has less labour power than the cultivation sector (875 persons vs.
2,428 persons). The aquaculture has 160 ha, mainly of intensive aquaculture. The commune has 80
ships < 20 CV fishing coastally with a total yield of 2,600 tons per year. Non-agricultural labours total
884, equal to those in the aquacultural sector. The model of converting fishing boats to transportation
service co-operatives can be good for An Thach 3 where there are thousands of tons of agricultural
products to be transported every year.
Two communes in Soc Trang might be quite representative for coastal areas in the Mekong delta
because they have land fund for agricultural and breeding development and also have seas and rich
near-shore fishery resources that are favorable for aquaculture and catching. However, over near-shore
exploitation with open benefits and lack of efficient management has been depleting the fishery
resources. Therefore, co-management of coastal areas can be a good solution for this issue ensuring
jobs and livelihoods and protecting fishery resources. Clam farming models that have been
implemented successfully can be scaled up in VInh Hai or other communes of similar conditions.,
Increasing social stratification and poverty, especially of the coastal ethnic minority group, requires
special supporting solutions apart from existing social policies. The CRSD project should pay
attention to activities for disadvantageous groups, including activities of strengthening human
resources capital, as a solution for sustainable poverty reduction. The common models for coastal
areas, for instance, education enhancement, vocational training, and job introduction, can be very
important to communes in Soc Trang province as well as coastal communes in the Mekong delta
where quality of human resources is the lowest and where the ethnic minorities live the most densely.
The following part will analyse risks and reasons of reduction in fishery occupations.
4.2 Risk Analysis of Current Livelihood Activities (focusing on aquaculture and capture
fishery)
Risks of existing livelihood activities imply vulnerability of the coastal communities. These risks
include hard labouring to avoid a decline in earnings, increasing natural disasters which shorten
working time in seas and endanger people’s lives, capture outputs and actual incomes are decreasing,
epidemics in aquaculture causing severe damages that cannot be recovered in many years, serious lack
of capitals and loan, and debt burden that make impossible for many households to change their
livelihoods or buy new tackle for more efficient capture fishery, weak sustainability of incomes, dull
economic long-sight, and high rate of poor HHs, etc.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 30
The present risks of the marine economic activities in the surveyed areas mainly derives from
livelihood resources (physical resource, natural resource, human resource, social resource, financial
resource), lack of capital, weakness, declination of resources, improper arrangement in aquatic
resources protection and management, as well as negative impacts from external factors such as
natural disasters, bad weather, polluted environment, epidemic diseases, price fluctuations, such as
prices of fuel, feed, medicines and vaccinations etc. The CRSD should support in providing solutions
to control the risks, create replaceable sustainable livelihoods that are based on optimizing available
resources of the households and the community, making use of market and institution opportunities.
Old ships and boats with low capacity, large quantity and mainly for coastal fishing, meanwhile, this
coastal resources become more and more exhausted, and annual income gains decrease more and
more. Natural disasters, highly increased petrol prices, depletion of fishery resources are main reasons
of income reduction. This reveals that the CRSD should provide solutions towards the offshore,
minimize coastal fishing, change to more competitive jobs in effective and environmentally friendly
manner, so as solutions for alternative, non-marine-based livelihoods.
Ngu Loc commune in Thanh Hoa province is a mono-aquacultural commune but the boats and ships
mainly are of low capacity, its growing rate is 132.1% from 2006 to 2010, with 2/3 households doing
coastal fishing and the coastal fishing yield is 3.0 times higher than the off-shore catching yield. Main
fishing products are trash fish with low economic value, making up about 56.0% of total yield in 5
years (2006-2010). The fishing ground becomes more and more difficult, the marine resources
become increasingly exhausted, while the problem of lack of capital and labour becomes more
serious. Therefore, the question is that it should be focused on developing the offshore zone,
meanwhile the local resources of people are substantially limited, unable to invest in offshore fishing
and catching, the application of advanced science and technology in the marine fishing is not yet
responded – as reported by Ngu Loc CPC. Hai Ninh commune, Thanh Hoa province has up to 78.3%
of HHs and coastal fishing ships and boats with capacity less than 20 CV, of which many are guffas,
rafts equipped with engines D6, D8. However, the coastal catching production only makes up 37.2%
of total fishing yield in 2010 and tends to reduce from year 2008 (39.3%). Mr. Vu Huy Hong said that:
“Earnings in recent years have reduced in terms of yields and incomes. Last year, the average output
was 330 - 350 kg per month, yet this year the average output is only 300kg per month. Fishes of high
value are getting rare, main catched fishes are flat fish, flounder. According to Mr. Le Trung Tuyen
who owns a 18CV ship said “ …in the last 2 years, the production has reduced 30%, trash fish make
up 2/3 of total production. Previously not many losses in fishing they’d ever to suffer as presently”
Mr. Le Van Hung, 30 years old, who has one guffa equipped with motor D6 gained about VND 3
million per month in 2010, so far, only VND 2 million per month. Mr. Ho Minh Son, born in 1969,
has a fishing junk but sold the 9CV junk, because the revenue was not enough to cover the costs. Now
he is unemployed, but works as hire-labour in the commune (deputy header of the village) and gains
VND 400,000 per month. Selling the fishing ship 9CV for VND 5 million, his wife sells noodles to
earn a living for the whole family, gains about VND 70-80,000 per day in profitable days (Group
discussion with the fishing and catching group in Tan Thuy village, Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa
province).
Among 2/3 of marine fishing HHs in survey, up to 54.7% said that they’ve encountered with risks in
fishing activities. Besides the weather and seasonal catching that reduce the actual fishing and
catching duration, there are negative impacts from the market such as highly increased market price of
fuel, while the increase of marine products is not responsive with the increase of the costs for
production.
The village has about 70 fishing boats of which 5-6 are just sold because of inability to afford fuel.
After selling fishing ships, people purchased small boats and continued go marine fishing. Previously
they gained VND 100,000, having sold the ships, they have to use boats so the income now reduces to
VND 50-60,000 per day. The sea water is now polluted, fishes and shrimps die. In the past husbands
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 31
did fishing and got profits, but now, some gain some loss, last month gained VND 500-600,000. We
do not have fishing ships, we use boats. (Group discussion with the fishing and catching group in Tan
Thuy village, Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa province)
Nearly four fifth (77.9%) of the interviewees considered that the income from marine fishing has
declined for the last 2 years. Only 12.8% said that their income from this income source increased,
while only 9.4% of them considered no change in income. The income decline from fishing activities
is most noticed in Soc Trang (89.9%), then Khanh Hoa (71.4%) and last in Thanh Hoa (65.4%).
Fishermen in Ngu Loc commune had more positive view than that in other communes, having two
fifth HHs considered that the income gained from fishing and catching activities increased, meanwhile
16.0% remained the same and the averaged income per capita there was the highest amongst the
surveyed communes. The fishing group, might have more objective judgment because they know and
understand the fishing group and the fishing and catching job, stated that the decline in income
appeared on nearly nine tenth (87.3%) of the HHs in the group. The impacts caused by the declined
income gained from fishing activities in the lower income group the fiercer. The lowest income
groups have more than four fifth of HHs affected compared with 65% of the highest income group.
The reason of decline mainly is attributed to the natural disasters: 38.3%, high increase of fuel prices,
and decreased harvest production: 30.9%.
Table 11: Surveyees’ assessment on income changes in the past 2 years (% HHs)
Unchanged
Increased
Decreased
Unchanged
Increased
Decreased
Unchanged
aquatic
Decreased
Per samples
Per commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
Per province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
Per job
Fishing, catching
Aquaculture mix
group
Other mix group
Per income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Income from aquatic fishing Income
from
and catching
product processing
Increased
Income from aquaculture
25.0
67.9
7.1
12.8
77.9
9.4
45.5
27.3
27.3
25.0
21.4
100
50.0
71.4
0
25.0
7.1
0
0
0
28.6
100
0
7.1
28.6
16.0
7.7
5.6
2.9
0
100
14.3
0
80.0
78.6
64.3
44.0
84.6
86.1
94.1
100
0
57.1
0
20.0
14.3
7.1
40.0
7.7
8.3
2.9
0
0
0
100
100
0
22.2
12.5
100
66.7
87.5
0
11.1
0
0
10.7
5.8
23.1
71.4
89.9
65.4
17.9
4.3
11.5
50.0
0
57.1
50.0
50.0
14.3
0
50.0
28.6
0
28.6
100
66.7
0
4.8
3.2
21.5
87.3
68.4
9.5
10.1
0
50.0
100
20.0
0
30.0
33.3
33.3
33.3
0
100
0
0
0
20.0
100
100
60.0
0
0
20.0
6.9
6.1
6.9
82.8
81.8
82.8
10.3
12.1
10.3
50.0
0
0
50.0
100
0
0
0
100
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Unchanged
Increased
Decreased
Unchanged
Increased
Decreased
Unchanged
aquatic
Decreased
Group 4
Group 5
Income from aquatic fishing Income
from
and catching
product processing
Increased
Income from aquaculture
page 32
33.3
66.7
66.7
33.3
0
0
15.4
28.1
76.9
65.6
7.7
6.3
0
66.7
0
16.7
100
16.7
Most of coastal fishing households in Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang are poor and have no productive
land, limited residential land, and most of them are Khme ethnic group. In addition to the impacts
caused by natural disaster, high increase of fuel price, and exhausted of marine resources, the majority
of the fishing group belongs to the lowest income group and there is a quite obvious social
stratification in this income group (62.0% of the fishing group fall in the two low-income groups,
meanwhile the aquaculture mixture group has its respective rate at 24.4%).
A fisherman has reflected a concern of many people of the coastal communities through an
assessment: “Marine fishing is not viable anymore, I also don’t want to go fishing in seas any longer. I
hope that my children can go to schools and have stable jobs” (Group discussion, Hai Ninh
commune – Thanh Hoa). The CRSD project can meet demands of the coastal communities in dealing
with difficulties of capture fishery through assistance in education universalization, career
orientations, vocational training, and job introduction for them and their children.
The trend shows that aquaculture is facing increased epidemic diseases in aquatic environmental
pollution, low investments resturns, all resulting on declined sources of income for HHs. This shows
that the CRSD should provide support in integrated solutions in order to minimize the possibility of
epidemic diseases transmitted, pollution in water environment, etc. and these, in turn, shall facilitate
the sustainable aquaculture.
Chart 6: Occupation structure by 20% incomes
Total samples
Fishery
Fishery combination
Other combinations
35.2
32
26.8
24
22.4
21.6
20.6
17.3
20.6
19.1
18
16.5 16
16
15.5
16.5
12.7
12
9.9
7.1
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
In the report on Aquaculture Review in 2010, Soc Trang DARD commented that: This year, the
weather, the environment has been so much complicated than it used to. Blazing hot sunny weather
lasts long, facilitate favored conditions for some bacterium grow strongly, thus spread the area of
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 33
shrimp farming lost up to 16.9%. Exceptionally, the area where seedlings were earlier bred was lost up
to 42.5% because the water in canals had been polluted due to it coincided with the time when
farming ponds were being reclaimed and cleaned.
The Khanh Hoa Fishery Department assessed that the quality of aquatic environment proved decline
in the farming zone. Farmers were too subjective, not conscious about the environmental management
in fishing ponds and fishing grounds. (Review report on Aquaculture in 2010). Ninh Loc commune in
Khanh Hoa has most of people involved in aquaculture have taken risks of epidemic diseases and
fallen in debts. The report on 5 year - socioeconomic profile (2006-2010) and the plan on 5 year –
socioeconomic development (2011-2015) of the commune stressed that: The local aquaculture has not
achieved high results because the water source is polluted, epidemic diseases has repeatedly happened
in shrimp farming seasons so farmers have lost seriously, and the return investment capacity in
production is low. In early 2011, people had farmed on 350 ha, of which white-leg shrimp was farmed
in 245 ha and the giant black tiger shrimp was farmed on 105ha. However, due to the epidemic
disease, 70ha of white-leg shrimp farming was totally lost, 100ha harvested at the average yield of 0.7
ton/ha. The fishing and catching production in the quarter totaled 22 tons. (Report on Socioeconomic
profile, May 2011 of Ninh Loc CPC).
Deriving from the aforementioned reasons, in the survey samples, 66.7% of the interviewees
expressed that the income gained from aquaculture had reduced compared with that in 2 years ago. In
3 communes, Ninh Lan, Ninh Loc, and An Thach 3 that practice the aquaculture, the percentage of the
interviewees evaluated that the income gained from aquaculture was 50.0%, 71.4%, 80.0%
respectively. The aquaculture-mix group, comprising of the HHs doing aquaculture and other jobs
related to aquaculture, that had the aquaculture-gained income reduced was at 66.7%.
Inappropriate and poor infrastructures for aquaculture also add more risks to the aquaculture practiced.
The Report by Khanh Hoa Aquaculture Department in 20010 comments on one restrict: “The
hydraulic canal system serving the aquaculture was slowly developed”. The report by Ninh Loc CPC,
Khanh Hoa indicated that: “Farming shrimps after lost crops, possibility for return investment is
limited, the water discharged and water intake are shared in one canal, therefore it is unavoidable to
the spread of epidemic diseases. The farming calendar is not consistent, applying the advanced science
and technology in the aquatic farming is not extended, and the diseases control is still ineffective”.
The CRSD should integrate in different local socioeconomic development projects, programs in order
to lose a tight bottleneck in the sustainable development of the coastal fishery, i.e. the infrastructure.
Desperate need of the capital, hardly repayment for repeated debts, difficulty in financing the
production extension or job change, etc. HHs in debt in the surveyed samples total 67.7%, mainly for
exploitation, aquaculture (making up 64.4% of total HHs in debt), cultivation, and husbandry (18.9%
of total HHs in debt). The average loan for aquaculture is the highest, up to VND 57.7 million per HH,
the highest loan borrowed is VND 300 million. The loan for cultivation is averaged at VND 19.2
million per HH. 9.5% of loans are above VND 100 million and nearly ¼ of loans are in range of VND
30-90 million.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hau, Tam Ich village, Ninh Loc commune – Khanh Hoa, 45 years old,
education attainment 5/12, have five children, none of who has been married, raising
shrimp and crabs semi-industrially, farming area is 35,000m2. All assets are in pledge,
owing the bank VND 180 million which is over payment due since 2003. At present, do
extensive farming, the wife sell noodles that cannot ensure basic demands, 2 sons are
workers, 1 son is soldier, and 2 children going to schools (Group discussion).
The report on 2010 aquaculture review by Soc Trang DARD concluded that “Due to huge outstanding
credit debts in recent years, the banks encounter in difficulties, some production HHs lost in previous
farming crops so they still have lacked of capital, this cause the investment in works unreliable, many
small-scaled farming HHs do not have settlement basins, etc. so the water supply for the production
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 34
process is not reliable.” Ninh Hai CPC, Thanh Hoa considered “The marine fishery, though, has
developed, had not been proportionally invested in. The fishing and catching facilities are simple and
primitive, percentage of high-capacity ships is low, thus, these make fishing and catching effect low”.
Ninh Loc CPC, Thanh Hoa concluded in its report on 2010 Socioeconomic Development: “The
investment in upgrading high-capacity fishing ships for offshore fishing encounters with many
difficulties, the job-change processes slow”
The aquaculture group in Tam Ich village, Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa expressed: All are overdue and are locked out from further borrowing, of which the lowest-borrower borrowed VND 40
million, the highest borrower borrowed VND 180 million. Now, only land remains, but most of them
do extensive farming. Some people have hired the ponds but they had to given back.
During community consultation, the people of the fishing group in Ninh Van commune – Khanh
Hoa said: There are many deficiencies in the Government’s supporting policies, loans for the
poor for production and business are so limited and not enough for investments. Therefore,
fishermen have to borrow money from individuals or magnates. The magnates do not take
interests, yet, they will buy products at cheap prices, because marine fishery resources are getting
exhausted, fishermen get more and more debts.
The problem of lack of capital is serious and generalized – the first-ranked important resource reveals
that the CRSD should coordinate with the banking services in order to obtain the sustainable
livelihood changed. It is not incidental that when responding to the question about which support is
needed if implementing alternative livelihoods for near-shore fishing, 87.7% HHs asked for fund
assistance.
Having no productive land is a serious restriction to the job-change to most of coastal fishing
households. In the survey samples, only one fifth of HHs have agricultural land. This shows that it is
necessary to make the most of available land resources in all the project area to replace the gradually
exhausted marine resources. The study shows that some project areas still have land fund but used
ineffectiveness. This land fund should be allocated for the project target households (e.g. the case of
Vinh Hai commune in Soc Trang).
One reality reveals that most of fishery HHs are not allocated with agricultural land in occasions when
agricultural land is allocated in the localities, such as in Ninh Van commune, Khanh Hoa, up to 2030% HHs do not have production land; in Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang more than 1,000 fishery
HHs (most of them are in Khme ethnic group) do not have agricultural land. On the other hand, the
availability of agricultural land in coastal villages is limited, such as in Ngu Loc commune, Thanh
Hoa, 3 coastal villages in Ninh Loc, Khanh Hoa. In the survey samples, none of HHs in Ninh Loc and
Ngu Loc has agricultural land, and part of them have moved to other communes or other villages to
hire public land to do aquatic farming. Except for An Thach 3 commune, half of HHs have
agricultural land, other communes have only 10 to more than 20% of HHs having agricultural land.
The fishing and catching group and the aquaculture mix group has only 15.5% and 20.2% of total
HHs having agricultural land respectively. The ethnic minority group has only 35.3% of HHs have
agricultural land and 5.9% hire land for production. The average land area of coastal HHs that are
using agricultural land is 5,386m2 for the Kinh people and 4,742m2 for the ethnic minorities. These
areas are sufficient for surviving only, not enough for development the commodity economy to becom
rich. The striking issue is the fact that most of fishing HHs do not have productive land and this is a
great hindrance for changing jobs from fishery capture. Meanwhile, some localities have some land
sources that are not been used effectively, are not yet planned, adjusted with the land-use rights more
economically and socially profitable (Refer to Section on Development Opportunities on Income and
Livelihoods).
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 35
Table 12: Percentages of HHs cultivating on different land categories (%)
Total samples
Per commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
Per province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
Per job group
Fishing, catching
Aquaculture mix
Other mix
Agricultural
land
Residential
land
Ponds,
Percentage of HHs Percentage
lakes, water having
different of
HHs
bodies
categories of land
renting land
20.0
95.9
19.0
99
7.2
25
0
0
10.0
23.7
51.4
100
93.1
100
96.7
97.4
89.2
9.4
55.2
20.7
6.7
7.9
18.9
100
100
100
100
100
94.6
0
0
13.8
6.7
5.3
16.2
20.5
37.0
6.6
96.7
93.2
98.4
31.1
12.3
14.8
100
97.3
100
0
11.0
9.8
15.5
20.2
32.0
94.4
97.0
96.0
8.5
28.3
12.0
98.6
99.0
100
9.9
6.1
4.0
Untrained labor, low education level, lack of knowledge, and mainly experience-based
production increase risks in production as well as more difficulty in job-change. This reveals
that the job training, education universalization is one of substantial activities in the CRSD that
aims at changing towards sustainable coastal livelihoods.
The rate of literate in the group of people above 15 years old is quite high: 94.0%, compared with the
rate of literate in the group of people above 10 years old as 92.0% indicated in the VHLSS in 2008 in
rural area. However, in Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang – where there are approximately 10,000
Kh’mer people, the literate rate is quite low, only 81.8% although the illiteracy proportion may focus
on the middle-aged and the old. In the study of the WB funded mangrove project in 2006, the literacy
rate of all survey samples in 4 provinces of Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau is 86.5%, the
corresponding rate of the Kh’mer is 71.1% and more than half of illiterate people are more than 46
years old. The catching group has literacy rate remarkably lower than the mix-aquaculture group does
(92.4% vs. 94.9%). Basically, this rate in other lower-income groups is lower accordingly. The lowest
income group has its respective rate at 89.8%, much lower than that of the highest income group –
98.8%. Members of the female-headed HHs are more disadvantaged with its lower rate of literate –
89.1% compared with the rate 94.5% of the male-headed HHs group.
On the one hand, the proportion of over 15-year-old members that only gain primary education
attainment is high in pure fishery communes such as Ngu Loc – Thanh Hoa and Soc Trang, where
there are lots of ethnic minority people. This means that these groups will encounter more difficulties
in changing their livelihoods and the CRSD project needs to design components on vocational training
and education universalization with special attention to these groups. On the other hand, nearly four
fifths of children in the school age (6-18) currently do not attend schools mainly because their
families need labourers while tuition fees for children are expensive. Therefore, the CRSD project
should provide support in cash for children of poor and quasi-poor HHs to obtain education
universalization, follow secondary education or vocational training. This is a way of sustainable
poverty reduction as well as creating opportunities of livelihood changes for near-shore fishing for
the young generations so that they do not have to follow their parents’ jobs as the sole livelihoods
sources.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 36
The rate of population above 15 years old graduated the junior high school education in the surveyed
group is 17.2%, much higher than its rate in other rural areas indicated in VHLSS in 2008: 12.3%.
This is an important base for a part of young people who are able to change to non-catching jobs.
The rate of people above 15 years old who are trained vocation only reaches 6.4%. Meanwhile, 4.0%
obtain the high education (colleague and university). The respective rate of job-training in rural areas
in VHLSS 2008 at 8.6% is higher than the surveyed samples. This means that human resources capital
in the project area is poorer than in rural areas in the whole country. Communes in Soc Trang province
seem weaker than other communes in term of vocational training area.
The rate of trained workers in the catching group is also lower than in the mix-aquaculture group
(5.4% vs. 6.3%). The lowest income group also has its rate of trained workers above 15 years old
much lower than that of other income groups: 1.6% vs. 12.8% of the highest income group. This
means that the CRSD should focus on job-training activities for the lowest income group, the catching
group, particularly in Soc Trang and the Mekong delta in order to increase opportunities for jobchange in their long-term aspect.
Table 13: Education attainment of HH members
Population Literate
above 15 population
years old above 15 Primary Junior
years old
high
school
Total
samples
Per
commune
6 communes:
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
Per province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
Per
jobgroup
Catching
Mixaquaculture
Other
752
76.2
705
94.0
239
31.9
Highest education level of the population
above 15 years old
Senior SecondaryShort -term LongHigh Others
high vocational vocational term education
school
training vocational
training
285
129
5
5
7
33
1
38.0 17.2
0.7
0.7
0.9
4
0.1
120
15.9
127
16.8
117
15.5
97
12.9
159
21.1
132
17.6
117
92.0
122
96.1
113
96.6
97
100
130
81.8
126
95.5
31
26.3
38
29.9
40
34.2
18
18.6
64
40.3
48
36.4
45
38.1
61
48.0
39
33.3
53
54.6
34
21.4
53
40.2
23
19.5
18
14.2
19
16.2
21
21.6
24
15.1
24
18.2
4
3.4
0
0
1
0.9
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
3.4
0
0
1
0.9
0
0
0
0
1
0.8
2
1.7
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
2.5
0
0
7
5.9
5
3.9
12
10.3
5
5.2
4
2.6
0
0
1
0.8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
247
32.8
284
37.7
221
29.3
239
97.6
250
88.0
216
97.7
69
28.2
108
38.0
62
28.1
106
43.3
85
29.9
94
42.5
41
16.7
48
16.9
40
18.1
4
1.6
0
0
1
0.5
4
1.6
1
0.4
1
0.5
2
0.8
4
1.4
9
4.1
12
4.9
4
1.4
17
7.8
1
0.4
0
0
0
0
237
31.5
415
55.2
0
218
92.4
393
94.9
0
97
83
25
41.1 35.2 10.6
120
166
80
29.0 40.1 19.3
0
0
0
1
0.4
3
0.7
0
5
2.1
0
0
0
3
1.3
3
0.7
0
3
1.2
20
4.9
0
1
0.4
0
0
0
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Population Literate
above 15 population
years old above 15 Primary Junior
years old
high
school
combination
Per sex of
HH head
Male
Female
Per income
group 20%
Group
1
(Poorest)
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group
(Richest)
5
page 37
Highest education level of the population
above 15 years old
Senior SecondaryShort -term LongHigh Others
high vocational vocational term education
school
training vocational
training
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
687
91.4
65
8.6
648
94.5
57
89.1
220
32.1
19
29.7
264
38.5
21
32.8
117
17.1
12
18.8
5
0.7
0
0
5
0.7
0
0
7
1.0
0
0
28
4
5
7.8
1
0.1
0
0
127
16.9
153
20.3
148
19.7
143
19.0
114
89.8
143
93.5
136
91.9
136
95.1
46
36.2
40
26.1
49
33.1
50
35.0
55
43.3
63
41.2
53
35.8
59
41.3
11
8.7
27
17.6
27
18.2
19
13.3
0
0
1
0.7
2
1.4
1
0.7
0
0
3
2.0
0
0
1
0.7
0
0
2
1.3
1
0.7
1
0.7
2
1.6
7
4.6
3
2.1
5
3.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
174
23.1
171
98.8
52
30.1
54
31.2
43
24.9
1
0.6
1
0.6
3
1.7
16
9.3
1
0.6
Source: Survey outcomes
Risk of livelihood in the coastal area is also because of poor awareness on protection of aquatic
resources. ‘To bite off more than one can chew” attitude rules over behavior of coastal people
for their immediate livelihoods, making fishery resources exhausted and fishery incomes more
and more reduced.
Thanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development considered: “The coastal area of
the province covers over 1,200km2, concentrates the breeding grounds of different fish and
shrimp species of high-economic value such as Hon Ne shrimp ground till Lach Ghep estuary,
fish ground, Dong Nam Hon Me shrimp, etc. usually attracting nearly 80% of the fishing ships of
the province, some people usually secretly and illegibly use combined catching tools with
destructive manner to catch aquatic products in the coastal fishing ground, particularly many
fishermen use high-capacity fishing ships to operate wrongly in the designated marine areas to
make use of resources, causing to change the coastal ecosystem”.
The Report by Ninh Loc CPC in Khanh Hoa province in 2010 indicates that: “In recent years,
the catching yield has become low because the coastal marine products become exhausted,
because fishermen used electric tools, ‘gia cao’ (one way of fishing) catching, they have not yet
improved their fishing tools. Total catching and fishing in 2006-2009 gained 95.5% of the
assigned plan annually”. One fisherman in this commune considered that:”two kinds of
bamboo traps (two relatively popular fishing gear here) deplete fishery resources, bamboo traps
has been prohibited in Cam Ranh”. The Review report on Aquaculture in 2010 by Soc Trang
DARD indicated: “here and there, the public awareness on environmental protection is not
good, affecting the area where they aquaculture earlier, therefore the rate of losses is quite high
(42.5%). Khanh Hoa Department of Fishery also evaluated that: “the awareness of aquatic
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 38
farmers is not high enough in managing the environment and water quality so once a disease
appears it is easy to transmit quickly, therefore, difficult to control and manage diseases
locally”.

Lack of cooperation, connections in production arrangement, community-based
management models, models on marine production teams, etc. are not yet applied in reality so it
increases more risks in exploiting, farming and protecting the aquatic resources.
Thanh Hoa DARD commented that: “The arrangement of marine production and exploitation in
team or group model is not effective; there is no policy in place for supporting marine
production teams, groups. The establishment of community-based fishery management models
has not yet received due concern and attention to”. Coastal resources co-management practice
should a constituting part integrating closely with the sustainable alternative livelihood
component of the CRSD project.

In Ngu Loc, when the cholera happened, the forbiddance on shrimp paste trade and
consumption made a decline for shrimp paste processing - a traditional career in the commune.
Such risks result in popularizing the instability in the employment. Almost two fifth (38.8%) of
total labor members in the surveyed HHs have unstable jobs, and nearly 2/3 (69.7%) of their
part-time jobs are also unstable. In Ninh Van and Ninh Loc communes – Khanh Hoa, the
proportions of unstable main jobs are very high, 61.5% and 64.2% respectively. Stability of main
jobs of the fishing group and the fishery combination group with other fishery operations is
lower than that of non-fishing group: 50.0% and 64.8% compared to 70.6%. Generally, stability
of main jobs is proportional to incomes. This means that the higher incomes the group has, the
higher the percentage of HHs having stable main jobs, and vice versa. The percentage of HHs
with stable main jobs of the lowest income group is 34.3%, less than half of the corresponding
percentage of the highest income group – 74.3%. This percentage of the Kh’mer group is only
44.4%, much lower than that of the Kinh – 63.7%. The male group has a much higher proportion
of stablility in main jobs compared to that of the female group: 62.1% compared to 50.0%. This
means the CRSD should support more activities that help create more sustainable jobs, not only
just support immediate livelihood activities, but also include activities for education for the
young generation, vocational training, job creation, sustainable poverty reduction, linkage
between job groups in different models, etc. The CRSD supporting activities should pay special
attention to disadvantageous groups such as groups of the poor, the quasi-poor, female
labourers, and ethnic minorities.
Risks about migration, training provided is not suitable with the market demands, children leave
schooling because of the poverty, lack of labour, etc.
Though migration creates opportunities of jobs and incomes, and provides economic benefits for
migrating households and communities, migration imposes risks. Many studies enumerate migration
risks, including unstable jobs and low salaries, inability of participation in various types of social
insurance, medical insurance, and unemployment insurance, particularly in small enterprises, risks of
security and social evils when being out of the control of communities, expensive living costs in urban
areas, children being far away from their parents that affects their education and personality
development. Therefore, when migration is determined as a strategy of creating jobs and lessening
near-shore fishing exploitation, the CRSD project should support coastal migrants to find stable
jobsand overcome as well as limit risks that they might have to face with. Some opportunites are
described in the following section.
Limitation of education and vocational training system: Since the quality of the existing Vietnam
education system is low, from primary education to vocational training or junior colleges and
universities, professional orientation is not implemented properly, systems of information on
education, training, and labour markets are under-developed, it is popular that training does not meet
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 39
the market’s demands and opportunities of sustainable jobs for the young are wasted in the whole
country in general as well as at coastal areas in particular. Among the unemployed, about 27.0% are
trained labourers, especially the young. This indicates gaps in education orientation and vocational
training. It is noticeable that to a majority of young people at coastal areas, especially those from poor
and quasi-poor HHs, their learning path is full of difficulties and harships, and they only pass it with
full efforts and determination, together with their parents’ tears and sweats. Hence, wastes of their
sustainable employement opportunities are so painful and torment. At the survey communes, some
young men were not able to find jobs in cities after graduating from technical secondary schools,
junior colleges, and universities, then, they came back to their hometowns and found temporary jobs
that were irrelevant to their training, for example, newsreaders, working for the commune’s youth
union, or working at home, etc. The CRSD project can and should provide assistance in vocational
orientation and training that are close to the market demands, selection of prestigious training
agencies, provision of labour market information, and job introduction to young people.
4.3 Opportunities for Development of Alternative Income Sources and Livelihoods
The opportunities for development of replaceable income sources and livelihoods in the project areas
might be quite large such as the development of labor markets in key economic zones in the North and
the South, industrial zones and urban in the project provinces, many socioeconomic development
projects funded by the Government and the province, possibilities to be integrated in the project
localities, many policies in place on assistance in employment, poverty reduction and vocational
training, etc. One feature of the labor market in Vietnam is that it is popular with the labour dissection,
segment between urban and rural areas, between industries, economic sectors; in which the labour in
industrial sector dominates. Therefore, if the CRDS enables to arrange its activity in supplying
information on labour market, introducing jobs, providing linkages between the young, women and
fishermen who are in need of employment with enterprises who are in need of recruiting workers,
many replacement jobs can be provided for the fishermen in the coastal region. Currently, every year,
large cities such as Ho Chi Minh city, Hanoi, provinces with developed economy such as Binh
Duong, Dong Nai, etc. recruit about 100,000 to 300,000 workers which many are unskilled. In many
stages, the demand of unskilled workers becomes critical in these regions. The arrangement for supply
and linkage of labor supply and demand becomes essential in providing jobs, besides the training,
improving the quality of human resources, and making use of market opportunities.
The exhausted marine resources lower and declined income sources, lack of employment, and poverty
are motive to push a group of people leaving home to seek for jobs, regardless the fact that it is not of
the wish of people living in the coastal region. For example, in the last 5 years, in the commune, about
2,000 people have migrated, about 200 HHs have left to work far, some brought their children with
them, others left their children at home. Here, if you do not leave l seeking jobs far away, you cannot
find a job, so, you’re forced to leave (Group discussion with the offices in Ngu Loc commune, Thanh
Hoa). It is necessary to guide the migration process as to enable people to haveemployment
opportunties , reducing risks and costs for migrated workers, particular for female workers and ethnic
minority workers. In addition to the given social network of migration, the CRSD would require to
define how to set up a center for job advice that functions in linking the labor demand and supply in
the project areas, and improving than the existing job introduction center models. Efforts need to be
put to provide a lot of alternative jobs for catching, especially to the young generations.
Many industrial zones, tourism areas such as Nghi Son in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Thuy in Khanh Hoa, etc.
are developing in the project provinces; however, the low-quality of human resources in the coastal
communes is a barrier to make use of this opportunity. The CRSD should focus on setting up
vocational training activities, human resources training, particularly to the young people of fishermen,
of poor HHs in trend of the marine economy-oriented jobs, and meet the demands of regional labour
market.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 40
On the other hand, the project areas also remain unexploited resources such as 200 ha of land for
aquaculture that is ineffectively used in Ninh Loc commune, managed by Khanh Hoa, about 47 ha of
land at Bai Truong pass, where Ly Son garlic – a high economic valued product, can be grown (if the
land is reclaimed, 24 ha has been already reclaimed and are produced effectively, profiting VND 270
million/ha in 2010 excluding all costs and expenditures, 23ha are not yet reclaimed) in Ninh Van
commune – Khanh Hoa, or 46ha in Thanh Binh bay and 60 ha of coastal trip in Hai Ninh commune
that is currently abandoned and can be reclaimed to farm clams with favorable natural conditions and.
In Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang province, more than 500ha of land belonging to 2 dissolved
forestations where is now leased by different companies can be reclaimed to allocate thousands of
fishery households who have no cultivate land. The CRSD can set up replaceable livelihood models
that derive from the exploitation of the existing land resources that are now used ineffectively.
Another chance for alternative livelihoods is infrastructure construction activities of the CRSD project.
Proposals of the CRSD project provinces and communes consist of various infrastructure works such
as fish harbours, head markets, fishery services areas, roads, drainage systems, planting mangroves,
eco-aquaculture, shrimp stock culture and verification facilities, etc. that can create thousands of jobs
of which there are many unskilled jobs. For instance, Ninh Van shrimp stock culture and verification
center can provide around 3,000 jobs upon completion, which will use approximately 2,400-2,500
local labourers (as estimated by a fishery official in Khanh Hoa). Co-management-based models of
the CRSD project also create many alternative jobs for fishing or environmentally-friendly fishing.
4.4 Participation of the Communities in the Project Activities
The fishermen usually establish ship fleets with the ship owners and group fishermen to work in
group. The revenue, being deducted the costs and ship depreciation (about 30% - 50%), shall be
shared amongst the fishermen per labour. This is a social base that enables to extend the linkage with
other groups functioning in the coastal area.
Clam co-operatives in Soc Trang that are operating well are valuable lessons of voluntary linkages for
the CRSD project activities. With the advantage of a clam stock ground spreading over 18 km, at
present, Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang has established a clam co-operatives with about 510 member
households. The clam co-operatives model has been operating very effectively. On one hand, it
provides jobs and incomes for member households, on the other hand, it ensures selective and
organized exploitation of, also, it protects the clam ground from arbitrary exploitation by fishermen
from other places. The mangrove co-management model is implemented in Au Tho B village, Vinh
Hai commune, Vinh Chau district, Soc Trang provice under the GIZ project funded by Germany,
from 2007 to 2010. There are five teams led by team leaders, each team leader is equipped with one
mobile phone. The team activities are disseminating information and levering awareness among their
communities as well as other communities about the need for forest protection and preventing people
who are not in the teams from exploiting the forests managed by the so called teams. The teams
operate voluntarily, the project assits each member household to build a furnace for cooking with
woods taken from forests. The member households are allowed to exploit wood and seafood in the
forests as regulated. Exploited products are controlled by check-points to check whether they are
complied with regulations or not. If captured products (e.g oyster, crab,…) do not meet standard sizes
(i.e too small), they will be taken back to the forests. Each household is granted with a member card
and they have to wear this when going into the forests. Meetings are organized monthly to draw out
lessons-learnt and resolve outstanding issues or difficulties of the members. During operation, the
teams have encountered difficulties of inadequate infrastructure such as offices, patrol boats, sentry
boxes, expression and conflicts between the team members and the outsiders about fishing prohibition
in forests managed by the teams.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 41
Free, prior and informed consultations with potentially affected Kh’me ethnic minority peoples
indicated that there is a broad support from this community for the project implementation. Over
the course of project implementation, if there is any activities that restrict access of ethnic
minority communities to coastal resources, consultation with them will be hold to ensure
potentially affected communities can participate in designing, implementing, and monitoring
activities that may affect their access to coastal resources. Also, the project, based on consultation
with them, will ensure ethnic minorities present in project area will benefit from project activities
in a way that is culturally appropriate to them. Consultation with ethnic minority peoples has been
conducted/will be conducted in a way that is appropriate to their social and cultural values, as well
as their local conditions.
In Khanh Hoa, the groups when being consulted also proposed establishment of project teams and
groups, for example, establishment of oyster farms: Changing to oyster culture, some households are
culturing oysters 3km far from here (Tan Doa, Ninh Ich), their incomes are quite good. Having known
farming techniques already. However, if oyster farming is allowed, a traning course was still asked
for to ensure precise techniques. roups of 5-10 people could be established for farms. About VND 200
million should be provided as an investment for 5 people (Group discussion, fishermen, Ninh Loc –
Khanh Hoa). Or establishing garlic co-operatives in Ninh Van: Much land in the village can be
improved to plant garlic and onion, yet, there are no funds for improvement. Establishing cooperatives to improve land, expanding planting of garlic and onion. There is not enough land to
plant in a large area for many people, yet some people can plant together in private land. The
co-operatives teams look for monopoly sales of garlic and onion, stable input provision, when
the input and output is stable, people will feel more secured (Group discussion, farmers, Ninh
Van – Khanh Hoa).
In many studies on migration, the social networks of the migrants in Vietnam usually is a base for
people to migrate, particularly for women who want to look for jobs, reduce travel cost, help to find
jobs, and support each other in such a risk life away from their home land. So it is in the project
communes. In the survey, women in communes: Ngu Loc, Hai Ninh, Ninh Van, etc. seemed willing
to agree with setting up production-join groups such as raising cows, pigs, services, etc. and tended to
expand the group, i.e. after 2-3 years, they could assist new groups a number of calves, breeding pigs
or a part of fund that they would be supported. The commune woman’s unions also agreed to manage
the funds established and transferred amongst the groups as the revolving fund for livelihood change
and poverty reduction. The female group in Hai Ninh commune – Thanh Hoa discussed quite
ebullient: “breeding teams could be established?. The issue is that solidarity is needed to work
together. It is advantageous that women usually establish affection women’s unions including about
10-20 women and these are a basis to form breeding teams easily. Up to now, in breeding and
cultivation, women base on their experiences, not having participated in any training courses. One
pen is for 5 pigs, area 4x5m. Pigpens must be made of concrete with heat-resistant roofs and water
systems. Pigpens must be clean to reduce diseases and food must be safe. To raise 10 pigs, 2 cells are
needed at a constructicon cost of VND 60 million. Can change construction materials reduce
construction costs?. Advantages: having land to plant vegetables, clean water, available labourers,
having fishes after going sea to make mash. Can establish teams with about 10 HHs per team,
breeding capacity depends on land area of each HH; if make it like a model, 10 HHs should raise 200
pigs to earn profits. Need the project to support breeds and food. Good breeds are important to raise
quickly and gain high economic efficiency. If develop a model, women only have enough money for
breeds, do not have sufficient money for foods and improvement of pigpens.
To process aquatic products, teams with 5-6 HHs each can be established. Fishing products of the
commune will be consumed. When having gained experiences, people can advise each other and
agree on working and management methods. Funds are needed to implement this.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 42
A chicken raising model can be implemented among about 10 HHs, funds are needed, coops are not
so high. Will gather some HHs that have large land, each HH can raise 300 chicken. The breed price is
VND 30,000 per chick, the costs of breeds for 10 HHs raising about 300 chicken is approximately
VND 90 million.
If teams are established, it will take about at least 3 years for these teams to support other teams and
groups. other teams with 50% of funds of the funded teams. Could be supported The women also
raise one issue that the project can concentrate on women who are living in difficulties or whose
husbands have passed away. The proposals of the female group in Hai Ninh commune are very
convincing and can be implemented for women at the coastal region, particularly for women who live
in difficulties.
In Ninh Van commune, the female group agrees to establish a cow raising group, develop a revolving
fund concerning cows to develop breeding groups for poverty reduction with the CPC’s assistance by
allowing the use of 4ha of land that is planned for a cemetary to raise elephant grass for breeding. Also
in this commune, the farmer goup propose to establish porcupine raising group with the same mode
and the CPC has accepted this proposal after the Consultant’s survey.
Social network
Results of the survey show that HH relatives, close mates, neighbours, people in the same village are
still people who give hand to each other in need. About 62.9% of respondents considered that HH
relatives and close mates are their 1st helpers when they need; 15.5% considered they are neighbours;
and 9.3% considered they are people in the same villages and the commune authorities. Holding the
second rank in the role of the 2nd helpers are also relatives, close mates (17.5%), neighbours (29.1%),
commune government (20.6%), organizations (10.1%), friends (9.5%). The percentage of HHs who is
self-help when facing with difficulty is only 6.2% (see Table 14). This is an important social base for
organizing different voluntary join-groups in the CRSD project.
Table 14: Helpers ranking as first and second ones
Total
Per
commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach 3
Per
province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
Per job group
Fishing
Fishery-mix
group
Neighbours,
Relatives, close
people in
Commune
people
village
government
Organizations
Friends
Unexpected
Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
62.9
17.5
15.5
29.1
9.3
20.6
3.1
10.1
3.1
9.5
6.2
13.2
68.8
58.6
51.7
50.0
60.5
83.3
3.2
12.0
41.4
33.3
15.8
2.8
12.5
17.2
27.6
26.7
7.9
5.6
25.8
36.0
10.3
36.7
18.4
47.2
6.3
10.3
13.8
6.7
15.8
2.8
25.8
8.0
41.4
16.7
13.2
19.4
6.3
0
3.4
10.0
0
0
19.4
16.0
0
3.3
15.8
5.6
3.1
0
3.4
6.7
5.3
0
12.9
8.0
6.9
10.0
13.2
5.6
3.1
13.8
0
0
10.5
8.3
12.9
20.0
0
0
23.7
19.4
63.9
72.2
50.8
7.1
9.7
36.1
14.8
6.9
26.2
30.4
31.9
24.6
8.2
8.3
11.5
17.9
16.7
27.9
3.3
0
6.6
17.9
9.7
3.3
1.6
2.8
4.9
10.7
9.7
8.2
8.2
9.7
0
16.1
22.2
0
62.9
16.2
15.7
23.5
8.6
25.0
18.8
1.4
11.8
2.9
5.9
8.6
17.6
62.6
20.8
15.2
31.3
9.1
5.1
7.3
3.0
11.5
5.1
10.4
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 43
Neighbours,
Relatives, close
people in
Commune
people
village
government
Organizations
Friends
Unexpected
Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper Helper
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
Other mix
16.0
group
64.4
8.0
16.0
36.0
12.0
0
16.0
4.0
12.0
4.0
12.0
Per
20%
income
group
Group 1
67.5
10.5
17.5
26.3
5.0
18.4
0
10.5
0
7.9
10.0
26.3
Group 2
61.9
15.4
16.7
23.1
7.1
25.6
4.8
20.5
2.4
7.7
7.1
7.7
Group 3
70.6
8.8
5.9
50.0
17.6
23.5
0
5.9
5.9
2.9
0
8.8
Group 4
51.4
35.1
21.6
40.5
10.8
10.8
8.1
0
0
8.1
8.1
5.4
Group 5
62.5
17.5
15.0
10.0
7.5
25.0
2.5
12.5
7.5
17.5
5.0
17.5
However, to establish groups, teams, and co-operative under the co-management model, there are
certain difficulties: “It is difficult to gather people to develop groups and teams, individuals have
individual ideas, there used to be a group model but failed. Groups of 10 aquaculture HHs each could
be established in the clean water body (Hon Vung). This area is not polluted, these HHs need support
of breeds and seedlings and funds “(Group discussion with the aquaculture group in Tam Ich village,
Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa). The commune leaders also commented that: “it is not a local
traditional practice of forming groups. The commune used to implement a model of shrimp farming
group with connection in one large area, yet failed because of relatively high individuality.
Nonetheless, if the project support, this group model can be maintained and developed”. In the whole
country, there are not many successful co-management models, these models are part of alternative
livelihood strategies. Hence, the CRSD project needs to have specialist to monitor and assit the
localities during operation of the co-management models.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 44
V. PROPOSED SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS
5.1 Key Orientations to Sustainable Livelihoods at Coastal Areas

Promote all livelihood resources of family households and communities (human
resources, natural resources, physical resources, financial resources and social resources),
making use of any market and institutional opportunities as well as favored conditions in
each locality in order to develop livelihoods that are economically, socially and
environmentally sustainable.

Diversify possible income sources, considering the household’s economy as a strategy to
maximize potentiallivelihoods, to reduce pressure on coastal exploitation.

At national level development, if infrastructure and the quality of human resources are
considered as development bottleneck, then this is also the case in the coastal area. For
the CRSD project, it is essential to take improvement of human resources quality through
training and capacity bulding as a fundamental, long-term solution for the coastal
development as well as sustainable livelihood development.

High population density along with slow process of the economic development in the
coastal region create high pressure for employment demand, as well as huge migrations
and displacements of population to key economic zones as the Central Highland.
Vocational training in combination with education assistance will likely bring good
effects in the long-term.

Because resources of the CRSD project and the project coastal areas are limited, it needs
to integrate CRSD project activities with other socioeconomic development programs
and projects in each project locality, aiming at integrating rare resources (financial
resource, land, water surface, and other production materials) to develop the coastal
region and creating sustainable livelihood.

Poverty is one of reasons that result in over-exploitation of coastal resources. Therefore,
the CRSD project shall focus on activities for poverty reduction, creation of sustainable
livelihoods for vulnerable groups such as the poor, the pro-poor, single female headed
household, ethnic minority people.

The coastal region and livelihood activities of the coastal communities are in the major
risk prone. This causes a majority of the community to fall in the spire of poverty, create
more pressures on the coastal exploitation. Therefore, risk mitigation measures such as
agricultural insurance, ship insurance, life insurance, health insurance, etc. may help
reduce negative impacts from such risks. The CRSD project shall support, promote the
community participation in such insurance activities, so as participate in pilot programs
launched by the Government on agricultural insurance.
From the above-mentioned orientations, it is possible to classify 3 groups of proposals for the CRSD
project, i.e. a group of job mobility in marine exploitation, a group of land-based livelihood models,
and non-land-based livelihood models. Specific models shall be proposed by relevant individual
localities and can be a combination of the above orientations.
5.2 Livelihood-conversion Models for Near-shore Fishery
Situation of excessive and inefficient exploitation happening in the fisheries sector and the surveyed
localities requires a diversification of income sources for fishermen. This diversification might aim to
offshore fishing or selective livelihood changes to more environmentally-friendly occupations, land-
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 45
based or non-land-based livelihoods, Survey data on average household incomes in the past 12
months show that marine capture still provides the highest incomes compared to other occupations in
these localities, therefore, it is likely that livelihood conversion will experience many difficulties if
there is no strong assistance in institution, funds, training, and so on.
Chart 7: Average HHs’ incomes by occupations in the past 12 months (VND ‘000)
Rice planting
Others (indicate clearly) 50000
45000
40000
Forestry (planting forests)
35000
30000
25000
20000
Handicraft/ small-scaled
15000
industries
10000
5000
0
Trading, services (not relating to
fishery)
Vegetables and crops
Fruit trees
Cattle breeding
Series1
Aquaculture
Salary (including pension)
Capture fishery
Hired labour
Fishery trading
Aquatic product processing
Fishery services
Offshore fishing boats: Depletion of coastal resources is one of the reasons of rapid increase in nearshore fishing boats. Hence, encouragement to offshore fishing is an approach and the Government has
implemented supporting policies such as petrol subsidy, the offshore fishing program, as well as
prepared the National Plan of Actions (NPOA) for reduction in fishing capacity. Fluctuations in the
market, e.g. high increase in petrol price, make many offshore fishing boats in some localities have to
stay “in land” at present. This is also a concern about economic efficiency of offshore fishing. Impacts
of increases in fuel prices in 2008 have confirmed the aforesaid statement. At this time, sometimes the
petrol price raises to more than VND 16,000 per litre, about 30%-40% of ships cannot operate (as
estimated by VIFEP). This shows clearly low operating benefits and vulnerability because of price
fluctuation that most of Vietnam fishing boats are facing (According to the Report on Strategic
Economic Analysis of the fisheries sector by DERG and CIEM, 2010). Several reasons have been
considered such as poor quality of wood boats and post-harvest handling facilities worsen fish quality
or problems of the supply chain lessen fishermen’s earnings. On the other hand, attention should be
given to the lessons-learnt of the Government’s Offshore Fishing Program implemented previously.
However, the Government’s support for offshore fishing in some fishing grounds is also an
opportunity of development of offshore fishing boats under the CRSD project. Community
consultation reveals building of offshore fishing boats (the engine capacity is higher than 90CV) as an
alternative livelihood model for offshore fishing.
In the survey sample, responding to the question “If near-shore fishing is not allowed or restricted,
what are you going to do for alternative earnings”. 11.2% of HHs mentioned their intention of
building offshore fishing boats as an alternative occupation. The mono-fishing communes such as
Ngu Loc has the highest rates (20.4%) of HHs intending to invest in offshore fishing boast as an
alternative livelihood for near-shore fishing. The highest income group has a similar proportion
regarding to this option (19.0%), comparing to only 5.7% of the lowest income group. The ethnic
minority group has a much lower rate of intention of investing in off-shore fishing boats compared to
the Kinh group (2.2% against 12.1%). It is surprising that the female-headed HH group has a higher
proportion of changing their livelihoods to offshore fishing boats than the male-headed HH group
(16.2% vs. 10.7%). In addition, the survey facts show that the average income of capture fishery
depends on boat capacity. Boats of less than 20CV provide an average income of VND 861.2
thousand per capita per month, meanwhile, boats of 20CV-<90CV provide an average income of 1.4
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times higher and boats of >90CV provide an average income of 3.1 times higher than that of boats of
<20CV. The CRSD project can consider this model, yet, there is a need for a feasibility study which
should also cover control of large boats that are not allowed for near-shore fishing as well as provide
an answer about vulnerability of offshore fishing.
Some studies on fishing value chain also indicate that the mode of high volume, low quality should be
switched to low volume, high quality mode that allows higher profits as well as more sustainable
fishing (According to the Report on Strategic Economic Analysis of the fisheries sector by DERG and
CIEM, 2010). Therefore, searches for selective, economically effective, and environmentally-friendly
occupation conversion models are necessary for the CRSD project. In the survey area, bigger boats
(>20CV-<90CV) provide higher incomes. Hence, improvement of boat capacities and changes of
fishing gears for effective fishing are urgent demands of fishermen and the CRSD project should
meet. This model is also suitable for coastal areas where agricultural land or aquacultural water bodies
are scarce.
Livelihood conversion models for marine fishery: based on community consultation, these operations
should be selective, economically effective, and environmentally-friendly, using fishing gear suitable
for marine fishing, not for near-shore fishing, such as improved trap, trawl net, squid fishing cum 4tagged net, shellfish lift-net, and flower crab net, etc. these models encounter some difficulties:
improvement of fishing boats and gear requires finance, human resources of high quality, such as
captains and engine managers, rare in several localities. At some places, some operations that
currently appears highly effective, for example, shellfish lift-net, flower crab net, squid fishing cum 4tagged net, improved trap, etc. can be implemented more widely. In the long term, the CRSD project
needs to scale up these models.
Co-operative model for conversion of fishing boats to service boats: the boat co-management model
by establishing a group of 3 – 5 HHs contributing shares and with financial support from the project to
build new ships of more than 90CV. The recommentadion from local HHs is that they would
nominate a team leader and develop operating regulations. This model was discussed with fishing
groups in My THanh village (Vinh Hai) and Mo O village (Trung Binh commune, Tran De district
and it is considered difficult to implement since the co-ownership would be difficult to handle. Yet,
in An Thach 3 commune, Cu Lao Dung district, Soc Trang province, several households requested
support to convert their fishing boats to transport boats to provide transport services for sugar canes,
construction materials, and other goods. One service co-operative model has been discussed.
Accordingly, fishing boats will be improved (if possible) or new transport boats will be built and cooperatives of transport services will be established. The co-operatives will manage and coordinate
operation of the fleet of boats. There are great demands for transport of sugar canes from Cu Lao
Dung and other localities to Soc Trang Sugar Company, transport of construction materials and other
goods in the district. This co-operatives model will attract many experienced labourers from fishing
households as well as unskilled labourers in the locality
5.3 Land-based Livelihood Models
Alternative livelihood models for near-shore fishing can be more sustainable with non-fishing based
livelihood models, land-based livelihood models, or non-land based livelihood models. Depending on
features of land resources, human resources, financial resources, natural conditions, economic
environment at the areas, etc. coastal communities can select suitable alternative livelihood models.
For example, in the central-northern area and the coastal central-southern area, since land is much
limited in comparison with the Mekong delta, land-based livelihood models might be not feasible
compared to other models.On the other hand, under the condition of scarce natural resources, e.g.
land, livelihood models should be based on market demands and market evidences of efficiency.
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In the survey sample, this important natural resource is different in different communes. Therefore, the
land-based livelihood models are selected differently.
Table 15: Average cultivative land area per capita
Total samples
By communes
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By provinces
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
By operations
Capture fishery
Fishery combination
Other combinations
By 20% income
groups
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
By ethnicity
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
By gender
Male
Female
Agri. land
Forest land
(m2/person)
2614
Residential
land
(m2/person)
68
Ponds, lakes, water
bodies
(m2/person)
2309
(m2/person)
1013
1094
0
0
106
724
1258
3512
1870
0
831
666
30
121
20
24
136
55
48
416
3761
1333
583
2238
1164
1094
1111
187
3070
454
831
75
53
77
3233
1634
1036
1103
926
1104
3328
2495
1724
62
65
94
514
2609
3107
982
1037
744
1255
1043
1798
3174
2272
2915
2374
72
53
68
82
59
1506
1084
1811
4307
1853
1030
1052
2693
166
69
57
2373
15
1048
366
2464
3429
68
68
2320
2219
Aquaculture is a familiar livelihood conversion model and implemented in a large scale in many
coastal localities such as Khanh Hoa, Soc Trang, Thanh Hoa, and Ca Mau, etc. in order to exploit
water body land, sea, as well as favorable natural conditions. “The total aquatic output of Vietnam
grows quite steadily in the past two decades, reaching 4.5 million of tons in 2008; increasing by 350%
compared to the output in 1990. This growth comes mostly from the aquaculture sector which had a
nearly zero start 20 years ago” (According to the Report on Strategic Economic Analysis of the
fisheries sector by DERG and CIEM, 2010).
However, adverse impacts of climate change, water quality, and disease outbreaks due to intensive
development in a short time as mentioned in the analysis of livelihood risks has threatened aquaculture
development as well as implementation of alternative livelihood models from capture fishery to
aquaculture of the CRSD project. To limit adverse impacts of climate change, epidemics, increases in
antibiotics costs that raises production costs, improvement of breedstock quality is a rational solution.
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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Therefore, the shirmp seed and quarantine model in Ninh Van, Khanh Hoa - the center providing
aquaculture breed for the southern region and the country – is an encouraging model for the CRSD
project. However, this model requires a close management and supervision to observe and timely
treat epidemics among others.
In addition, exploitation of advantages of coastal land and lagoons such as hundreds of unused
hectares of land in Thanh Binh gulf and the coastal land along Hai Ninh – Thanh Hoa for aquaculture
of clam – the species requires no feeding – which is suitable for poor and quasi-poor households and
has gained certain success in the surrounding areas - leads to aquaculture models that take advantage
of land resources, natural conditions. These models should be implemented in the CRSD project.
Noticeably, breeding of other species, not tiger shrimp and catfist – the two key species of Vietnam
aquaculture – should be promoted in the CRSD project because this will reduce risks of disease
outbreaks and price fluctuation. A lot of households in Hai Ninh, Ngu Loc – Thanh Hoa have hired
land in other communes and cultured clam successfully. The advantage of near-shore aquaculture is
that all land strips are public land and managed by the districts. If planning is made, techniques and
sciences are applied, comprehensive aquaculture promotion measures, including credit and
organization of producting teams, are implemented, exploitation of strength in coastal land and
favorable natural conditions for aquaculture can create important alternative livelihoods for thousands
of near-shore fishing households as well as reduce poverty. In the survey samples, aquaculture still
ranks fourth in terms of average incomes with VND 37.8 million per year; hence, aquaculture is very
attracting in places where possess favorable natural conditions and epidemics rarely occur.
Bankruptcy of a majority of HHs farming shrimps at lagoon sides as in Ninh Loc, Khanh Hoa
provides valuable lessons-learnt for implementation and selection of sustainable aquaculture models.
The rice-shrimp-crab model of the mangrove project in Soc Trang has been implemented successfully
and can be scaled up as an alternative livelihood model for fishing and protection of fishery resources
in the CRSD project. This model can be implemented in Vinh Hai with 500 ha of land currently used
ineffectively by two dissolved plantations.
In the survey samples, responding to the question about what they would do when near-shore fishing
is restricted or prohibited, 16.4% HHs mentioned aquaculture as their alternative operations. Khanh
Hoa and Thanh Hoa are two provinces that have many HHs choosing aquaculture as an alternative
livelihood for fishery capture (26.9% and 22.2%). The fishery combination group and the fishermen
group have higher rates of this intention than the non-fishery combination group (18.7% and 14.9%
against 12.7%). The upper average income group (group 4) has signicantly higher rate than other
groups in terms of intention of farming aquaculture (more than one fourth of the HHs compared to
around 14% of HHs in other groups). For ethnic minority group, aquaculture appear less appealing
than from the Kinh group (4.3% against 17.9%), yet, they care more about crop cultivation because
they are poor experience in aquaculture.
Mangrove planting and eco-aquaculture
Mangroves plays an important role in terms of economy, society, and environment with a plenty of
functions: protecting biodiversity of salt-marsh vegetational cover; protecting coastal areas and
expanding rapidly alluvial areas towards seas; reducing land disturbance and near-sea water pollution;
providing livelihoods for fishermen if mangroves are managed sustainably.
In Ecuador, one hectare of mangroves can provide food and jobs for 10 HHs, meanwhile, 110 ha of
shrimp farming only provide jobs for 6 people during the preparation stage and more 5 people during
the whole period of shrimp farming (www.maxreading.com). However, in Vietnam, mangroves have
been destroyed seriously and in a large scale to follow economic benefits drived from shrimp farming.
The area of mangroves in Vietnam has declined from 400,000 ha in 1943 to less than 60,000 ha in
2008 (according to Vietnam Development Report 2011). In Khanh Hoa, before 1975, there was about
2,500 ha of mangroves, spreading along coastal areas and islands, focusing mainly on such areas as
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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Dam Mon, Nha Phu lagoon, Thuy Trieu lagoon, Hon Gia, Hon Tre, etc. and mangroves contributed to
develop the extremely rich, natural fishery resources there. At the moment, because of inadequate
planning, mangroves in Khanh Hoa has been cut down for shrimp farming and there is only about 100
ha. Spreading disease outbreaks at shrimp farms in 9 provices of the Mekong delta, Khanh Hoa, and
other coastal provinces during 1994 - 1995 and 2000 – 2001 and recent years has put tens of
thousands of households back to poverty. Sliding of seashores and coastal dykes and estuary banks in
recent years in Vietnam due to deforest has been happening seriously, affecting productive facilities
and land. This is such an expensive lesson resulting from undisciplined land management,
uncontrolled emigration, inadequate planning, etc.
Many countries have also learned expensive lessions from non-planning shrimp culture. For example:
In India and Indonesia, shrimp farming capacity reduces after five to ten years. In Thailand, more than
20% of shrimp farms developed from mangroves are abandoned only after 2 to 4 years; of 1.3 million
hectares of land for shrimp farming, approximately 250,000 ha have been deserted.
Thus, recovery of coastal mangrove ecosystem is vital and urgent to many coastal provinces of
Vietnam. Under implementation of Decision No. 327/CP/1992, 53,000 hectares of protective
mangroves have been planted, but then as some localities implemented wrongly Decision
773/CP/1994, mangrove areas have been narrowed and provided low efficiency. Some nongovernment organization has supported mangrove projects in Thai Thuy – Thai Binh and Giao Thuy –
Nam Dinh effectively. Can Gio biosphere reserve and Viet Nam southern coastal wetland forest
development and protection project are bright examples in mangrove recovery.
The CRSD project can implement mangrove and ecoaquaculture projects with reference to lessonslearnt of success and failure in planting mangroves in the World and Viet Nam. These projects bring
about social and environmental benefits such as job creation, income increase through planting,
caring, and protecting mangroves, farming aquaculture under shades of mangroves, recovering
biodiversity and reducing sea environmental pollution, limiting impacts of climate change and sea
invasion, etc. Land that used to be mangroves yet being cut down for shrimp farming such as 200 ha
of land in Ninh Loc - Khanh Hoa and currently used ineffectively should be considered for mangrove
planting and eco-aquaculture projects. .com MaxReading.com
Cultivation
Crop cultivation is a livelihood model that base mainly on land and labour resources and might be
more effective if being implemented in localities where certain success has been gained in this field. In
the survey sample, the communes in Soc Trang province have strength in land, experiences in planting
sugar canes, onions, water melon, rice, derris, etc., Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa province has
strength in land and cultivation development in agricultural villages, Ninh Van commune has gained
initial success in planting garlic originating from Ly Son island because the people from this island
came here to hire land for production. The mono-fishing Ngu Loc commune and the estuary-locating
Hai Ninh commune in Thanh Hoa province have almost no agricultural land and do not have many
chances of developing cultivation.
In the survey samples, 60.7% HHs increase their earnings from planting vegetables. In three
communes of Ninh Van, An Thach 3, and Vinh Hai, 50.0% - 71.4% HHs have their incomes raised by
planting vegetables. Responding to the question of what they would do if near-shore fishing was
restricted or prohibited, 10.3% HHs showed their intention of doing cultivation as an alternative
livelihood and these most of these HHs come from three communes of Ninh Van, Vinh Hai, and An
Thach 3 where there are various types of land. The ethnic minority group has a higher rate of people
tending to replace fishery capture with cultivation than the Kinh group (19.6% compared to 9.0%).
The non-fishery combination group also has a higher proportion of people tending to do cultivation
than the fishermen group and the fishery combination group (17.5% against 7.5% and 10.3%
respectively). This means that it might be difficult for fishing HHs to change their occupations to
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cultivation. In the survey samples, vegetable planting ranks second in terms of average annual
incomes – VND 42.2 million, hence, this is a potential alternation at places where effective
exploitation of land fund for cultivation is viable.
Ninh Van commune has planted 16 ha of onion and garlic at Bai Truong pass (46 ha) with an output
of 160 tons. The households of Mr. Le Phu Van and Nguyen Nay sold boats and live on planting
garlic and onion in more than 1 ha of land with high efficiency. The household of Mr. Ho Van Thong
migrated to this commune and hired 2.6 ha, improved 1 ha at a cost of VND 150 million for garlic
planting, created jobs for 150 dayworks per year for the local people and earned profit of VND 270
million per year. Land improvement (a necessary condition for garlic and onion planting) and
spreading the grid to Bai Truong pass to establish centralized garlic and onion planting areas can be an
effective livelihood conversion model, especially for poor and quasi-poor HHs in Ninh Van
commune, Khanh Hoa province.
Under the resettlement and cultivation settlement model of the mangrove project in Vinh Chau
district, Soc Trang province, each displaced HH is allocated with 0.5 ha of land for cultivation. The
displaced households have implemented the crop-fish-crab model very efficiently and earned stable as
well as sustainable incomes. Now, this model can be practiced in Vinh Hai commune, Soc Trang
because there are more than 500 ha of land of two dissolved plantations and this land is currently for
rent, used ineffectively, can be reclaimed to assign to thousands of near-shore fishing households,
most of which are the Kh’mer ones, to plant crops and do aquaculture. A co-management model can
be developed to use land efficiently and avoid the phenomenon of land selling by the poor when they
encounter risks. However, the process of land reclaim will be not easy and effort as well as timeconsuming, and require much determination of the local authorities.
Breeding
Breeding is one of labourer and land-based livelihood models that aim at diversifying household incomes
to restrict or even rejecting fishing activities, depending on breeding scales and economic efficieny.
Nevertheless, in the case this model is implemented efficiently in a large scale, pressure on near-shore
fishing will lessen and competitiveness of fishery exploitation at any costs will be minimized. Responding
to the question of what people intend to do when near-shore fishing is restricted or prohibited, 12.1% of
HHs choose other occupations, not relating to fishery, as replacement jobs, of which mainly is breeding.
Soc Trang and Thanh Hoa provinces have a high rate of HHs preferring breeding than Khanh Hoa (16.3%
and 14.4% against 6.2%). Regarding to this, the fishing group and the non-fishery combination group has
quite high rates (13.7% and 10.7%). The ethnic minority group has a higher rate – 19.6% - compared to
that of the Kinh group – 11.3%. There is no significant difference between the female-heade HH group and
the male-headed HH group in terms of these rates.
In the survey samples, nearly one third of HHs earn more from breeding (cow, pig, goat, poultry...),
one third have their earnings unchanged, and 38.5% have their incomes reduced. Three communes of
Ninh Van, Ngu Loc, and An Thach 3 have high percentages of income increase from breeding
(50.0%, 66.7% and 100.0% respectively) and 100.0% HHs in Vinh Hai commune have their incomes
unchanged. The average income of breeding HHs in the past 12 months, from the survey time, is
VND 10.4 million. Most of coastal communes can operate in breeding despite of narrow land and
crowded population in mono-fishing communes as Ngu Loc commune – Thanh Hoa province.
Depending on strengths in forestry land, agricultural land, experiences, etc. the localities can choose
suitable breeding models. For instance, in Ninh Van commune – Khanh Hoa, quite large forest areas –
that contributes to the local tradition of raising cows - and land sources where grass for cow raising
can be planted. Many households in Ngu Loc and Hai Ninh communes – Thanh Hoa raise pigs quite
successfully because women are hard working, by-products of fish sauce processing can be used for
breeding, and the people are in consensus to establish pig raising groups under revolving credit funds
managed by the commune Women’s Union. The fishing group in Tan Thuy village, Ninh Loc –
Khanh Hoa, also proposed establishment of frog, cow, and chicken raising groups. In implementation
of breeding models, commune Women’s Unions should be relied on to establish breeding groups that
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assist each other and revolving funds in order to expand the models. All three communes of Ninh Van
– Khanh Hoa, Ngu Loc and Hai Ninh – Thanh Hoa proposed such models. Land fund to develop such
activities, (soil quality, temperatures, mapping of areas prone to flooding, markets demands and food
security.. etc is required to study.
5.4 Non-land-based Livelihood Models
Aquatic processing and services are essential operations for development of the fisheries sector,
increasing value, and creating more jobs, etc. Many processing operations are traditional jobs of the
localities such as dried aquatic products, fish sauce, shrimp source, etc. Lots of other processing
operations such as freezing, canning, etc. create highly increased value, orient to export, encourage
establishment of key catch or aquaculture products, and create many jobs, especially for young
women. Such services as collection and provision of tools and materials for offshore or near-shore
catch and aquaculture are necessary, supporting and allocating benefits with fishermen and
aquaculture households. In the survey samples, 45.5% processing HHs gain increases in earnings, one
fourth households suffer a decline. The average income of aquatic processing HHs in the past 12
months, since the survey time, is VND 40.08 million, ranking third in occupation groups. Two
communes in Thanh Hoa has households providing aquatic services and all of them have their earning
raised in the past two years. The average income of service and trading HHs in the past 12 months,
since the survey time, is VND 10.5 million and VND 17.3 million respectively. In the survey samples,
responding to the question “If near-shore fishing is not allowed or restricted, what are you going to do
for alternative earnings”, 12.6% HHs intended to work in aquatic processing, services, and trading as
their alternative occupations. The mono-fishing communes as Ngu Loc has a higher rate following
this orientation – 26.0%. Thanh Hoa has a much higher rate of HHs preferring aquatic processing and
services than the two remaining provinces (one fourth of HHs compared to 7.6% in Soc Trang and
10.5% in Khanh Hoa). These occupations do not attract the ethnic minority group with only 4.4% of
HHs compared to 13.6% of HHs from the Kinh group, because ethnic minority group is mainly
concentrated on Soc Trang where these occupations are not developed at household level. The femaleheaded HH group has a significantly higher rate than the male-headed HH group (18.9% against
11.9%).
In many cases, fishermen’s wives and children do processing and collection of aquatic products at
small scale as a livelihood to diversify their income sources, mitigate risks of fishing operations, gain
income sources when the sea is rough or it is not in harvest. If aquatic processing and services is
developed to a certain scale, this can be an good alternative livelihood for catching. During
community consultation, female groups recommended to establish processing groups by local
traditional operations such as making shrimp sauce, fish sauce, dried aquatic products, or proving ice.
Labourers, land, productive experiences, input and certain markets are available for these groups. The
difficulties lie in lack of fund and promotion of their brand names when expanding production scale,
especially for fish sauce because some international corporations have joined this field with enormous
budgets and for advertisement professional strategies. The female groups were willing to establish
groups and teams that operate with mutual support and include poor households. They were also
willing to establish revolving funds.
Yet, aquatic processing causes risks of environmental pollution to coastal, narrow, and crowded
villages. Therefore, it is necessary to construct head fish markets, preservation and centralized
processing grounds, services areas that supply petrol and repair, build boats under industrial zones in
trade villages to ensure food sanitation and safety and other technical standards, planning and develop
collection and disposal sites for domestic and aquatic wastes to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages.
In addition, favorable economic environments (including policies, investment procedures, land
provision, infrastructure…) at coastal areas should be created to encourage investors, especially those
from the private sector, build processing and services units in the localities to create jobs, particularly
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for women, as well as to increase product values. This, to a certain extent, promotes catch towards
exploitation of high value products, export, and mitigation of catching near-shore trash fish. This is an
important approach to develope marine economy and create alternative livelihoods for near-shore
fishing.
Other non-agricultural activities such as meeting domestic demands and local production are
one way to make up sources of alternative livelihoods. Premilinary development can be from
activities of unofficially economic sectors, from the market demands in the localities and job
settlement, making full use of available resources such as land that is near roads, markets, or the
commune/ village centers, houses, gardens, female labourers, old people, or young men (for
technical jobs such as repairing electronic devices, motorbikes, welding, etc.), and diversifying
sources of household incomes. In some localities, traditional jobs like knitting, building,
carpentry, etc. can be maintained and developed. The localities that have high population density
such as Ngu Loc – Thanh Hoa, Vinh Hai – Soc Trang or locate adjacent to big roads such as
Ninh Loc – Khanh Hoa possess conditions to develop non-agricultural jobs. Commerce, services,
handicraft, and small-scale industries contribute nearly two fifths of the toal product value of
Ngu Loc commune. Development of urban areas, tourism areas, and industrial zones like Ninh
Thuy – Khanh Hoa and Nghi Son – Thanh Hoa, industrial zones of aquatic services like Hoa Loc
– Thanh Hoa, and new road axes are propitious conditions for development of non-agricultural
jobs as alternative livelihoods. The average incomes from trading and non-aquatic services,
handicraft/ small-scale industries, wage labouring, and hired labouring in the past 12 months,
since the survey time, are: VND 12.7 million, VND 7.2 million, VND 24.5 million and VND
16.1 million respectively. In the survey samples, responding to the question “If near-shore fishing
is not allowed or restricted, what are you going to do for alternative earnings”, 23.4% HHs chose
trading and business, processing, and services of various types (including those relating to
fishery) as their alternative jobs. If regarding to non-fishery sectors, this figure is only 11.9%
(mostly small-scaled business). The two lowest income groups have high rates of HHs with the
aforesaid intention (14.35 and 16.2%). The fishing group and the fishery combination group
have much lower rates of HHs tending to do business compared to the non-agricultural
combination group (9.3% and 7.9% against 22.2%). The ethnic minority group has slightly lower
proportionof HHs tending to do business in comparison with the Kinh group (8.7% against
10.8%). There is no significant difference between the female-headed HH group and the maleheaded HH group (8.1% and 10.7%).
Job settlement and migration: Population increase puts high pressure on livelihoods and job
settlement in the project areas. The average number of HH member of each surveyed coastal HH is
5.05, much higher than the corresponding figure of Vietnam rural areas – 4.14 as well as the
corresponding average number of the central-northern region – 4.06, the coastal central-southern
region – 4.11, the Mekong delta – 4.16 (according to the National Household Living Standard Survey
2008). The average number of labourers in the survey samples is also high – 3.05, of which the
communes in Khanh Hoa province have the highest number – 3.67, then Soc Trang – 3.47 and Thanh
Hoa – 3.36.
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Chart 8: Net population of immigrants, emigrants and migrants during five years before
2009 survey of inter-province migration flows by regions (Source: NSPH 2009)
1,800,000
Di c? ??n
1,600,000
Di c? ?i
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
Midland and
North mountain
Red river
delta
Coastal central
area
West highland
Southeast
delta
Mekong delta
Migration should be a strategy for job settlement, searches of alternative livelihoods, and poverty
reduction in coastal areas in the CRSD project. Although there might be arguments on pros and cons
of migrating regions, it is a fact that there are more and more migrating flows from these areas to big
cities, key economic zones, and the High Land. Migration can bring about many benefits for both the
migrants and their families in migrating regions and immigrating regions. The National Surveys on
Housing and Population 1999 and 2009 showed that the CRSD project areas such as the centralnorthern region, the central coastal region and the Mekong delta were main migrating regions and the
provinces such as Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Soc Trang had the highest inter-provincial migrating
rates. The above chart indicates a fact that the central-northern region, the central coastal region, and
the Mekong delta have the largest number of migrants during five years before 2009 survey. These
data do not fully reflect migrating scales because the survey considers migrants as those who have
residential placts, five years before the survey, different from existing residential places. As such, the
group of population under five years old are not included and categorized as one type of migration as
temporary migration or seasonal migration and this group is implicitly included in non-migrating
population groups or migrating groups defined above.
The numbers of migrants of three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang are 218,272,
28,891, and 65,187 people respectively. These figures might be much less than facts because
temporary migrating groups or harvest migrating groups are not included. The inter-provincial
migrating rates of these three provinces are 0.6%, 2.1% and 0.9% of the provincial populations
respectively. It is noticeable that district migration makes up much higher rates in all of three
provinces, of which female rates are usually higher than male rates. It is a migrating trend which
should be regulated in order to maintain labour forces for economic development of coastal areas.
Table 16: Migrating rates in the country by province (%)
District migration
Inter-district migration Inter-provincial migration
Male Female Total
Male Female Total
Male
Thanh Hoa
0.8
2.3
1.6
1.1
1.6
1.3
0.6
0.6
0.6
Nghe An
1.0
2.3
1.6
2.0
2.5
2.3
1.1
1.1
1.1
Ha Tinh
0.7
1.9
1.3
1.0
1.4
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.2
Binh Dinh
1.9
3.2
2.5
1.2
1.9
1.6
1.4
1.4
1.4
Province
Female Total
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District migration
Inter-district migration Inter-provincial migration
Male Female Total
Male Female Total
Male
Phu Yen
1.1
2.1
1.6
1.1
1.6
1.3
1.1
0.9
1.0
Khanh Hoa
3.0
4.2
3.6
1.1
1.8
1.5
1.8
2.4
2.1
Central-northern
region and central 1.4
coastal region
2.5
2
1.4
1.9
1.7
1.5
1.7
1.6
Soc Trang
1.3
2.0
1.7
0.9
1.2
1.1
0.8
1.1
0.9
Ca Mau
1.6
2.5
2.1
1.5
2.0
1.8
0.6
0.8
0.7
The Mekong delta
1.5
2.4
1.9
1.1
1.6
1.4
1.4
1.8
1.6
Province
Female Total
Source: Data of National Survey on Population and Housing 2009
In reality at the surveyed communes, Ngu Loc – Thanh Hoa has thousands of migrants: In the past
five years, there have been about 2000 migrants, 200 HHs earn their incomes in other places of which
some HHs bring their children with them, some leave their children at home. It is estimated that 400500 people work as house-workers in Hanoi and other provinces. If people do not work in other
places, they have nothing to do here; hence, they have to go (Group discussion with a communal staff
– Ngu Loc commune – Thanh Hoa). Every year, Ninh Loc CPC, Khanh Hoa province, develops job
plans for the local people, particularly for the young. The locality co-operates with Ninh Hoa
Vocational Training School to provide training for approximately 300 labourers, co-opeartes with
aquatic processing company F17, Dai Thuan company, Suoi Dau industrial zone, and Khanh Hoa
garment company to settle jobs for 200 labourers each year (Five-year report). Ninh Van commune Khanh Hoa is thinly populated – 1,785 people but still has about 100 out of 912 labourers come to
work in Ho Chi Minh city and Binh Duong province, several tens of labourers work as hired divers for
ship owners in Quang Ngai province or for marine fishing under contracts in foreign countries.
According to dicussions with female groups in the survey communes, all mothers did not want their
children to take marine occupation because of poverty, danger, and risks, and they are willing to
support their children to work in other occupations as long as they had stable jobs.
On the other hand, many surveyed households lack resources (one fourth of the surveyed HHs do not
have any fishing gear) and they almost have untrained labourers as their only asset, therefore, they do
not have many choices and opportunities, and they can only work as hired labourers although this is
unstable and provides low incomes. Hired labouring is the main extra job (side job) of the fishing
groups – 73.6%. The complex occupation groups have high percentages of main job as hired
labouring (over one fifths of the total labourers of the survey samples). Low-income groups have high
proportions of hired labouring, particularly for extra jobs (side jobs). The Kh’mer has high rates of
hired labouring for both main and extra occupations. The research results of SEDEC about hired
labouring of ethnic groups in four provinces in the Mekong delta are similar.
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Table 17: Characteristics of self-employed jobs and hired labouring
Total samples
By occupation group
Fishing
Aquatic complex
Other combinationses
By 20% income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
By ethnicity
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
Status of main occupation Status
of
secondary
occupation
SelfHired
SelfHired
employed
labouring
employed
labouring
83.9
16.1
59.7
40.3
97.8
78.8
77.2
2.2
21.2
22.8
26.4
73.6
89.5
73.6
26.4
10.5
85.9
84.4
78.1
81.0
92.5
14.1
15.6
21.9
19.0
7.5
32.1
47.4
53.7
0
0
67.9
52.6
46.3
0
0
85.5
70.4
14.5
29.6
62.3
48.3
37.7
51.7
In the survey samples14.1% HHs expressed hired laboring or migrating, although direct intention of
migration is not high - 0.9% - as their alternative occupation. Being hired labourers is normally the
start of temporary migration, pendulum migration, and short distance migration, and likely to result in
long distance migration. On the other hand, migrating subjects are usually young men, meanwhile
most of the interviewees are in middle age or old, hence, migrating intention cannot be reflected
precisely. It is noticeable that Soc Trang province has this rate high – one fourth of the HHs.
Regarding to this, the ethnic minority group has a rate of 26.1% compared to 14.4% of the Kinh
group.
Migration-based strategies for job creation should be co-operated closely with job creation at
industrial zones, urban areas in the provinces and the districts such as Ninh Thuy industrial zone –
Khanh Hoa, Nghi Son industrial zone – Thanh Hoa, job creation at the communes, as well as
assistance for vocational training for young people and job changes for fishermen.
Solutions to migration and job creation are to establish Job introduction Centers (JIC), provide
information about the labour market and vocational guidances of the CRSD project in each province
with assistance for machines and labour experts. All the communes have trained labourers and
officials and the project can implement capacity building. A mechanism of binding the JIC staff’s
responsibilities by establishing a correlation between the numbers of jobs provided and the staff’s
benefits should be developed. Co-operating with the provincial Centers of Forecasts of Human
Resources, hiring specialized departments of such Centers, and connecting with the Centers in other
provinces, especially those of big cities, the provinces in the key economic region of the North and the
South. Combining job introduction with training assistance for labourers of poor and quasi-poor HHs.
Providing information on labour markets for fishing HHs and schools, pupils, and young people to
have practical basis for their job orientation and job selection to save opportunity costs. However, it
should be aware that the push of migration process is different by areas. For example, young men in
Ninh Loc commune – Khanh Hoa catch fish with small boats and earn about VND 60,000 to VND
70,000 per day, meanwhile, young men in Hai Ninh commune – Thanh Hoa catch fish with D8
bamboo baskets with earings of only more than VND 2 million per month, and if they do not have
boats, the have to go catching with the others and the earnings is around VND 1 million per month.
Therefore, local features should be paid attention to during job settlement. At present, there are many
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companies but salaries are too low, insufficient for basic living, therefore, people do not want to work
there (Group discussion concerning aquaculture, Tam Ich village, Ninh Loc commune, Khanh Hoa).
Different genders have different demands of jobs, for example, women in coastal areas in Khanh Hoa
work as workers for processing and frozen products with salaries of around VND 2 million per month
or as hired labourers for restaurants in Nha Trang with lower salaries.
Training, improving human resources. This is the basic solution to promote sustainable access to
jobs, minimize pressure on near-shore fishing, and create an important basis for marine economic
development as well as for sustainable poverty reduction for coastal communities.
As per analysis in risks of current livelihoods, human resources quality of coastal communes is low,
especially of the pure fishermen groups, the ethnic minority groups, and the low-income groups.
In the survey samples, nearly one fifth of HHs have children in the shool age range (6-18) dropped off
schools. Over one third (33.9%) dropped off schools because their households needed more labourers
and earnings, 28.3% stopped learning because education was too expensive. Ninh Van commune –
Khanh Hoa – had only 50% of pupils passing the high school entrance exam in the shool year 20092010. These reasons means that assistance in cash of the CRSD project can encourage most of
children at coastal areas be back to schools.
Most of young men at coastal areas receive no vocational traning. This is a basic difficulty for
conversion of near-shore fishing to other jobs, etc. At present, the Government is implementing the
rural vocational training program in a large scale and at the surveyed localities. However, it seems that
this program does not attract rural young people in the surveyed areas because types of jobs trained
under the program are limited, there are no output in the market, and the program cannot help them
find sustainable jobs. For instance, in Ninh Hoa town – Khanh Hoa, “children are assisted with tuition
and training fees but no one go to schools because they are afraid that there will be no jobs for them
(learning to be tailors, welders, cooks, poor HHs are assisted with VND 15,000, and VND 200,000 for
petrol costs for three months, quasi-poor HHs are assisted with VND 70,000, yet they have to pay for
food and petrol themselves” (Group discussion in Tam Ich village, Ninh Loc, Khanh Hoa).
Diversifying income sources by taking full advantage of all livelihood resources of HHs and
communities is a livelihood strategy of households and communities that have been practised
quite successfully to minimize risks, increase incomes, reduce poverty, and lessen pressure on
exploitation of near-shore resources. In the mangrove project in four provinces of Soc Trang,
Tran Vinh, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau, the survey results show that incomes and living standards are
directly proportional to the number of incomes. The lowest income group has the lowest average
number of incomes sources (2.05) and the higher the income groups are, the higher the average
numbers of incomes are. The highest income group has the highest corresponding ratio of 2.62.
In coastal areas, to increase household incomes and limit risks of ”putting all eggs in one basket” as a
saying of the Vietnamese household workforce (women, the middle-aged, etc.) and other livelihood
resources need to be mobilized. From the survey results, out of 589 people who have main jobs, over
one fourth (27.0%) has sub-jobs. Among sub-jobs, 59.7% is self-employed ones and 40.3% is hired
labouring.
The diversification trend of income sources also reflects in the average number of HH income sources.
In the survey samples, averagely, each HH has approximately 1.7 sources of incomes, much lower
than the survey results of the mangrove project in four provinces in the Mekong delta (2.3). The
communes in Khanh Hoa province have weaker diversification of income sources compared to other
provinces (1.3 compared to 1.7 in Thanh Hoa and nearly 2.0 in Soc Trang). The Kh’mer group has a
much higher average number of income sources in comparison with the Kinh: 2.2 vs. 1.6. The higher
income groups have more income sources. The lowest income group has only nearly 1.5 income
sources, meanwhile three higher income groups have about 1.7 to 1.9 income sources. Certainly,
diversification of income sources depends on some certain conditions, such as abundant workforce,
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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availability of land, availability of some fund sources, and local economic environment, etc. The
poorest group has the lowest average number of labourers – 2.9 while the average numbers of
labourers of higher income groups are from 3.3 to 3.9.
Table 18: Average numbers of HH income sources (%)
No. of HHs
TOTAL SAMPLES
By commune:
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
By ethnicity
The Kinh
The Kh’ mer
By income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
189
Average
no.
income sources
1.6984
29
26
29
30
38
37
1.1724
1.4615
1.6931
1.6667
1.7895
2.1351
55
73
61
1.3091
1.9589
1.7377
171
17
1.6491
2.1765
37
41
35
35
40
1.4865
1.6585
1.8857
1.7500
1.7250
of
Source: Survey data
Changes of main occupations are an indicator of the tendency of income sources diversification and
relate to the ability of changing livelihoods of coastal labourers, especially fishermen. In the survey
samples, the trend of changing jobs is very clear with the rates of around 10% in 2008, 2009 and
increased quite rapidly in 2010 to 11.8% of HHs labourers. This trend has some noticeable features as
follows:

Ninh Van and Ninh Loc communes – Khanh Hoa where poverty rates are high have high
rates of changing main occupations continuously in three years (around 20%), especially
in Ninh Loc – the commune has encountered adverse impacts of aquaculture in many
successive years.

Regarding two communes in Thanh Hoa, there are no data about changing of main jobs
in 2008, 2009, and 2010 in Hai Ninh commune which might be due to the surveyors’
faults. Yet, Ngu Loc commune had a high rate of changing main jobs in 2010: 17.2%.

The pure fishermen group had a low rate of changing main occupations in 2010, only
1.4% (though having not excluded certain omissions of the survey stage in one
commune). This implies that changing main occupations is not simple to fishermen. If
there are no strong impacts or support, it is difficult for fishermen to change their jobs.
To the CRSD project, for job changes for pure fishing HHs, it may be easier to focus on
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their children who going to join the workforce or to change marine occupations
selectively in an environmentally-friendly way or to offshore fishing.

Groups of HHs that have HHs members as fishermen yet has diversified their income
sources such as the aquatic complex group or the other combinations occupation group
can have a strong tendency in changing jobs with more advantages (the rates of changing
main jobs are 16-18%). The CRSD project can concentrate on piloting and scaling up
land-based or non-land-based alternative livelihood models for these two groups.
Table 19: Status of occupation changes
Percentage
of
labourers
changing
their occupations out
of the total no. of
labourers
Total
By commune
Ninh Van
Ninh Loc
Ngu Loc
Hai Ninh
Vinh Hai
An Thach
By province
Khanh Hoa
Soc Trang
Thanh Hoa
By operations
Fishing
Aquatic complex
Other combinations
By 20% income group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Year of changes in main occupation
2008
2009
2010
10.3
9.7
11.8
21.9
27.6
0
0
5.3
8.1
18.8
27.6
0
0
5.3
8.1
18.8
24.1
17.2
0
5.3
8.1
24.6
6.8
0
23.0
6.8
0
21.3
6.8
8.2
0
15.2
20.0
0
15.2
16.0
1.4
18.2
16.0
5.0
11.9
8.6
16.2
7.5
2.5
11.9
8.6
16.2
7.5
2.5
9.5
11.4
16.2
17.5
Current
Diversification of income sources should base on market signals under the circumstances that land
resources, financial resources, human resources quality, etc. are rare and poor. This is the basis to
recommend alternative livelihood models in the CRSD project. For example, highly effective garlic
planting in Ninh Van is the basis to propose improvement of 23 ha of land in Bai Truong pass where
72% HHs with LURCs are poor and quasi-poor HHs or HHs with many difficulties and they do not
have money to improve land for garlic planting which is possible to provide profits of hundreds of
million Vietnam Dong per hectare. It is similar to establishment of poor women groups for cow
raising because it is the commune’s tradition to breed thousands of cows on thousands of hectares
of forest land with limited disease outbreaks. Clam farming, changing fishing occupations
selectively - shellfish lift-net, flower crab net, and squid fishing cum 4-tagged net in Hai Ninh and
Ngu Loc communes – Thanh Hoa are economically effective activities at the communes and in
the surrounding areas and can be practiced as well as scaled up. The shellfish co-operatives model
in Vinh Hai commune – Soc Trang is expansion of the co-operatives model that were successfully
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implemented here. The resettlement model for 1,000 Kh’mer households also in Vinh Hai
commune is the application of the resettlement model implemented successfully of the mangrove
project in Soc Trang, etc.
5.5 Summary of Proposed Livelihood Models in the 3 Project Provinces
Based on the results of consultation with stakeholders which include near-shore fishing HHs,
alternative livelihood models have been discussed and agreed upon to be carry out in the project
provinces as follows.
5.5.1 Thanh Hoa Province
Ngu Loc commune, Hau Loc district
a) Assistance in changing the marine resources – destructive exploitation livelihoods to others:
improved trap, trawl net, squid fishing cum 4-tagged net, shellfish lift-net, and flower crab net.
Resulted by the pressure caused by declined resources, to change the traditional exploitation means of
fishermen is essential to exploit selectively economic-value subjects, protect natural marine habitats,
and the pressing issue requires fishermen shifting from the marine resource-destroyed exploitation
jobs to highly selective and environment-friendly exploitation jobs (Combined trawl net: the catching
group evaluated: 5.9/10, the aquaculture group: 7.1/10, the commune officers group: 8.1/10;
Improved trap: the catching group evaluated: 5.0/10, the aquaculture group: 7.5/10, the commune
officers group: 8.6/10; the squid fishing cum 4-tagged net: the catching group evaluated: 8.0/10, the
aquaculture group: 8.7/10, the commune officers group: 8.0/10; Improvement of ships for thin-mesh
net: the catching group evaluated: 7.5/10, the aquaculture group: 8.3/10). Consulted with the
community opinions, it is likely to focus on the squid fishing cum 4 tagged net.
Overall layout and all devices of squid net
1b
1a 1a
1b
2
7
7
7
7
6
5
4
3
b) Aquaculture (clam farming). Some households rent coastal land grounds that are managed by the
District in the territory of communes and in its vicinity to farm clams and they have farmed profitably.
Clam farming does not need feeding, so it is suitable for the poor, pro-poor people (the catching group
evaluated 8.3/10, the aquaculture and processing group: 7.7/10 and the commune officer group:
8.9/10).
c) Aqua-product processing. This is a local traditional job. In the commune, some dozens of
households process aquatic products, and people are very experienced and have certain numbers of
customers. However, lack of capital is a hindrance to the production extension, besides the lack of
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experience in trade-mark promotion (the catching group evaluated 7.5/10, the aquaculture and
processing group: 8.0/10, and the commune officer group: 8.3/10)
d) Aquaculture-based services. The aquaculture-based services in supplying and purchasing fishing
and catching materials, though is inadequate, has a potential of gaining higher incomes compared with
the fishing and catching. It is a potential to shift the fishing and catching to the services supply.
However, lack of fund is a main barrier to realize this change (the catching group evaluated 7.3/10, the
aquaculture and processing group: 7.6/10, and the commune officer group: 8.0/10)
e) Assistance on job training for children in the poor, pro-poor households, vocational guidance, job
introduction, provision of labour market information (focused on marine economy related jobs).
Establish commune-based centers for employment supply, vocational guidance in the province-level
project (the catching group evaluated 0.2/10, the aquaculture and processing group: 8.4/10, and the
commune officer group: 9.8/10). This activity aims at providing sustainable employment
opportunities, minimize the employment pressure and control the increase of coastal fishing and
catching activities.
f) Cash - support for children in the poor, pro-poor households in universalizing the Secondary school
and encouraging graduating the Junior high school (the aquaculture and processing group: 9.0/10).
Connecting with the compulsory education and routine education activities in the locality, this activity
aims at providing more opportunities for children of the poor and pro-poor households so they will
have access to the job training, find non-farm jobs, reduce child-labour in coastal fishing and catching
activities, and contribute to formulate a new trend of the education-loved tradition in the coastal area.
This helps eliminate the poverty sustainably and erase the ‘inherit’ poverty from generation to
generation.
g) Technical training for fishermen to use effectively fishing and catching tools, farming clam,
processing aquatic products, and enhancing the human capacity of staff, etc. (the group of aquaculture,
processing and services: 8.7/10)
Conclusion: Following project activities are recommended for Ngu Loc commune:
1. Support in piloting the environment – friendly job change: squid fishing cum 4 tagged net
for 2 groups of ships, 5 ships per group. The project shall support about VND 800 million
per group of ships so they can buy squid fishing cum 4 tagged nets. After 2 years of
piloting, if succeeded, the model shall be extended to 15 groups with about 75 ships for
which the fund support should be equal to 70% of fund supported to the pilot group.
2. Clam farming: Piloting a 5-household model. The project shall support about VND 200
million. After 2 years of piloting, if succeeded, the model shall be extended to 10
households. The priority is given to occupation changes for households who are poor,
pro-poor, use bamboo boats for coastal fishing and catching, facilitating them to change
jobs.
3. Processing aquatic products, fish sauce, shrimp paste: A female group of 10 households.
The project shall support about VND 200 million. After 2 years, this group shall support
the second female group with 20% of the fund supported, and the project shall finance
80% of fund for the 2nd group. After 4 years, each group shall give 20% of the fund
supported to the 3rd group. The project shall give support to the remaining portion,
provided that the total from 3 sources is equal to the initial support given to the 1st group.
Therefore, after 5 years, there enables to formulate a revolving fund managed by the
Commune Woman’s Union that facilitates the sustainable livelihoods.
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4. Pig breeding: A group of 10 households. The project shall support about VND 200
million. After 2 years, this group shall support the 2nd women group with 20% of the fund
supported, and the project shall finance 80% of fund for the 2nd group. After 4 years, each
group shall give 20% of the fund supported to the 3rd group. The project shall support the
remaining portion, provided that the total support from 3 sources is equal to the initial
support given to the 1st group. Therefore, after 5 years, there enables to formnulate a
revolving fund managed by the Commune Woman’s Union that facilitates the sustainable
livelihoods.
5. Establishment of commune-based job training and introduction center in the provincial
project. The CRSD project supports to purchase computers, provides capacity training
for staffs working in the center and staff in labour sector at commune levels, hires experts
in human training to assist in the first 2 years and supervise the performance in the next 3
years. Set up a mechanism that binds the benefits of staff in the center and the commune
staff with the number of employments or jobs supplied.
6. Cash-support to children of the poor, pro-poor households to universalize the secondary
schools and graduate junior high schools. The CRSD project can support about VND
500,000-700,000 per month in 9 school months per child, excluding the support for
schoolling needs as books, text books, and pens for the compulsory education program.
In case of the junior school education, if the school is far, pupils have to hire
accommodation or pay high expenditures for travelling, they can be subject to a support
of VND 1 million/month/pupil in 9 school months each year.
7. Integrating with the local program on construction of Hoa Loc fishing services harbor:
prioritizing to remove poor, pro-poor households in Ngu Loc commune that use bamboo
boats to this area in order to facilitate them to involve in the service sector. The CRSD
shall give supports to build up a transportation road in the project.
Hai Ninh commune, Tinh Gia district
a) Assistance in changing from marine resource – destroyed exploitation livelihoods to others:
improved trap, trawl net, squid fishing cum 4-tagged net, shellfish lift-net, and flower crab net.
Resulted by the pressure caused by declined resources, the change of traditional exploitation means of
fishermen is essential to exploit selectively economic-value subjects, protect natural marine habitats,
and the pressing issue requires fishermen shift from the marine resource-destroyed exploitation jobs to
highly selective and environmental-friendly exploitation jobs (Combined trawl net: the catching group
evaluated: 6.7/10, the aquaculture group: 9.4/10, the commune officers group: 7.2/10; Improved trap:
catching group evaluated: 6.7/10, aquaculture group: 10/10, commune officers group: 7.7/10;
Shellfish, flower crab lift-net: the catching group evaluated: 7.9/10, the aquaculture group: 9.7/10, the
commune officers group: 8.0/10; Improvement of ships with thin-mesh net: the catching group
evaluated: 7.5/10, the aquaculture group: 9.4/10). According to the community opinion, it is likely to
focus on the group of shellfish, flower crab lifting net.
b) Aquaculture (clam). The commune has Thanh Binh bay (46 ha) adjoining Lach estuary and about
60 ha of coastal land that can be used for farming clams in good natural conditions. Clam farming
does not need feeding, so it is suitable for the poor, pro-poor people. This land is managed by the
district so it’s convenient for the project implementation (the catching group evaluated 7.6/10, the
aquaculture and processing group: 10/10, and the commune officer group: 10/10). Another opinion is
that it can combine clam farming with wetland forestation. Though this option is highly appreciated
by the groups but it requires further technical review on the potential of wetland forestation here.
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c) Aquaculture-based services. The women group proposes to set up a service group that will supply
water-ice, there is not any service supplier in the commune. This group may comprise of 7-10 women,
contribute fund and the project will give a partiall finance support (total capital investment is
estimated at VND 300-400 million) (the catching group evaluated 7.4/10, the aquaculture and
processing group: 9.9/10, and the poor group: 9.4/10, the women group: 9/10)
d) Processing aquatic products. Traditional job of the locality is to make fish sauce, shrimp paste: One
woman working in this processing job expressed that the supply doesnot meet the demand. Lack of
fund is a barrier because the prices of inputs: shrimp, fish increase high. Local inputs supply is
adequate. It can set up a group of 10 households working together, jointly purchasing materials,
promoting its trade mark. The project may support about VND 200 million (the catching group
evaluated 7.6/10, the aquaculture and processing group: 9.9/10, the commune officer group: 9.8/10,
the poor group: 10/10, and the women group: 9/10)
e) Pig, cow breeding. In the poor group, many households raise pigs, cows and gain profit. During
women group discussion, a woman said her household raises 1 cow, 10 pigs for meat and gains VND
10 million/year as profit, together with raising 500 chikens and 30 geese. Favored conditions are
attributed to: hard-working manner, certain experiencea and skills, having land for growing
vegetables, bananas for husbandry, and availability of water. It can combine the processing of fish
sauce with pig feeding; make use of side- products. It is recommended that the project support with
the breeding (200 heads), about VND 1 million/head). After 3 years, the group shall support another
woman group with 50% of fund received for them to practice the husbandry as modeled (the catching
group evaluated 8.0/10, the aquaculture and processing group: 8.7/10, the commune officer group:
7.8/10, the poor group: 10/10, the yougth group: 9.5/10, and the women group: 9/10)
f) Poultry raising: (the catching group evaluated 6.7/10, the aquaculture and processing group: 8.8/10,
the commune officer group: 7.3/10, the poor group: 10/10, and the women group: 6.0/10).
g) Supporting vocational training for their children of pro poor and poor HHs, vocational guidance,
job introduction, and provision of labour market information (focused on marine economy related
jobs). Establish center for job introduction, vocational guidance at the project province level with
brands in communes (consulting with relevant groups on this issue: the catching group scored 9.4/10,
the aquaculture and processing group: 10/10, the commune officer group: 10/10, the poor group:
10/10, and the women group: 8.6/10). This activity aims at providing sustainable employment
opportunities, minimize the employment pressure and control the increase of coastal fishing and
catching activities.
h) supporting in cash for children of pro-poor and poor HHs to universalizing secondary education
(consulting with relevant groups on this issue: the aquaculture and processing group scored: 10/10, the
fishing and catching group: 8.6/10, the commune officer group: 9.7/10, the poor group: 10/10, the
youth group: 9.7/10, and the women group: 10/10). Connecting the compulsory education with
routine education activities in the locality aims at increasing more opportunities for children of the
poor and poorest households to have accessible to the job training and find non-farm jobs, leading to
reduction of child-labour in coastal fishing and catching activities. This helps reduce the poverty
sustainably, erase the ‘inherit’ poverty from generation to generation.
i) Toursim services: (the commune officer group: 7.9/10)
Conclusion: Following project activities are recommended for Hai Ninh commune:
1. Support in piloting the environment – friendly job change: Shellfish, flower crab lift-net:
for 2 groups of ships, 5 ships per group. The project shall support about VND 800 million
per group of ships for them to buy shellfish, flower crab lift-nets. After 2 years of
piloting, if succeded, the model shall be extended to 15 groups with about 75 ships for
which the fund support will be equal to 70% of fund supported to the pilot group.
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2. Clam farming in Thanh Binh bay: Piloting on a 20-household model. The project would
support about VND 800 million. After 2 years of piloting, if succeeded, the model –
would be extended to 30 households. The priority is given to households who are poor,
pro-poor, use bamboo boats for coastal fishing and catching, facilitating them to change
jobs.
3. Processing aquatic products, fish sauce, and shrimp paste: a group of 10 households. The
project shall support about VND 200 million. After 2 years, this group shall support the
second female group with 20% of the fund supported, and the project shall finance 80%
of fund for the 2nd group. After 4 years, each group shall give 20% of the fund supported
to the 3rd group. The project shall give support to the remaining portion, provided that the
total support from 3 sources is equal to the initial support given to the 1st group.
Therefore, after 5 years, there will set up a revolving fund managed by the Commune
Woman’s Union that facilitates the sustainable livelihoods.
4. Pig breeding//: a group of 10 households. The project shall support about VND 200
million. After 2 years, this group shall support the 2nd women group with 20% of the fund
supported, and the project shall give 80% of fund for the 2nd group. After 4 years, each
group shall give 20% of the fund supported to the 3rd group. The project shall support the
remaining portion, provided that the total support from 3 sources is equal to the initial
support given to the 1st group. Therefore, after 5 years, there will set up a revolving fund
managed by the Commune Woman’s Union that facilitates the sustainable livelihoods.
5. Establishment of commune-based job training and supply center in the provincial project.
The CRSD project supports to buy computers, provides capacity training for staffs
working in the center and staff in labour sector at commune levels, hires experts in labour
management to give supports in the first 2 years and supervise the performance in the
next 3 years. Set up a mechanism that binds the benefits of staff in the center and the
commune staff with the number of employments or jobs supplied.
6. Cash-support to children of the poor, pro-poor households to universalize the secondary
schools and graduate junior high schools. The CRSD project can support about VND
500,000-700,000 per month in 9 school months per child, excluding the support for
school needs as books, text books, and pens for the compulsory education program. In
case of the junior high education, pupils have to hire accommodation or pay high
expenditures for travelling, they can be subject to a support of VND 1
million/month/pupil in 9 school months each year.
5.5.2 Khanh Hoa Province
Ninh Van commune, Ninh Hoa district
a)
The Ninh Van intensive breeding shrimp farming and accrediting zone covering 60 ha
provides jobs and supplies good quality breeding shrimp to provinces. The project was approved
by MARD in its decision no. 1049/QĐ-BTS dated 31/7/2007 and its adjustment in Decision no.
3457/QĐ-BNN-TCTS dated 24/12/2010. In 2009, financed by the local fund, Khanh Hoa DARD
already completed the land acquisition, compensation and land clearance. Therefore, the project
enables to implement in 2011. The project shall provide a sustainable and stable production area
for aquatic breeding, help farmers be confident in their production so as to provide a source of
good quality breeding shrimps, including giant tiger shrimp, white-leg shrimp for the sustainable
aquaculture development in the province and in the country (the agriculture project ranked this
project as the priority 2; the woman group: priority 3, the commune officer group: priority 4, the
catching group: priority 5)
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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b)
Building up an intensive garlic farming area at Bai Truong pass on 47 ha: reclaiming
soils for growing garlics on 23 ha (24 ha was already reclaimed by farmers), erecting an electric
supply system for garlic farming, including one low-voltage transformer station). There are
households who reclaim land to grow garlics and gain VND 270 million/ha/year. If an electric
system can be set up, this shall help reduce production costs and bring more profits. This product
has a good consumption market. The soil reclaimation and establishment of electric supply
network in this region may create more jobs and increase incomes for about 80-90 households
meanwhile some of households have lent their land with a cheap price, i.e. VND 4-5 million/5
year because they are not able to reclaim their land profitably. Among the not-yet reclaimed land
area, 72% of households with land-use rights are poor, pro-poor or in harsh conditions (the
agriculture group ranked this project in priority 3, the woman group ranked in priority 3)
c)
Off-shore fishing ships: 2 ships, about VND 2 billion. It is proposed to set up a model on
ship management board in a group of 8-10 households who contribute their shares and receive
partially fund supported by the project to build 2 new ships with capacity >90 CV. (The woman
group ranked in priority 5, the commune officer ranked 2, and the catching group ranked 2).
d)
Job training, vocational guidance, job introduction, provision of labour market
information (focused on marine economy related jobs). Establish commune-based centers for job
introduction, vocational guidance in the province-level project (the agriculture group ranked this
project in priority 1, the catching group ranked 1, the woman group: 6). This activity aims at
providing sustainable employment opportunities, minimize the employment pressure and control
the increase of coastal fishing and catching activities.
e)
Cash support for children in the poor, pro-poor households in universalizing the
Secondary school and encouraging graduating the Junior high school (the agriculture, the
commune officer groups ranked this project as priority 1, the catching group ranked 3, and the
woman group ranked 6). Connecting with the compulsory education and routine education
activities in the locality, this activity aims at increasing more opportunities for children of the
poor and pro-poor households to have access to the job training, find non-farm jobs, reduce
child-labour in coastal fishing and catching activities, and contribute to formulate a new trend of
the education-loved tradition in the coastal area. This helps eliminate the poverty sustainably,
erase the ‘inherit’ poverty from generation to generation.
f)
Support for raising breeding cows, a sustainable poverty elimination model: Raising
cows is a traditional job in Ninh Van because there has forests and people grow and supply
elephant plant for cows. Learning experiences from other poverty reduction projects, only
production support is not synchronous and adequate to reduce the poverty sustainably.
Therefore, the project should give supports with fund, good breeding, technical assistance,
disease prevention, etc. combine a group of people having experiences, technical skills and
people being poor and lacking of husbandry skills, and provide land for grass growing in the
locality. It is feasible to set up a group of poor women raising cows, then after 2-3 years of
practicing, calves can be given to another poor group as a revolving fund for poverty reduction
which is managed by the commune woman’s union. The CPC chairman indicated that the
commune manages 4 ha of land and can grant the land-use rights of 500 m2 per cow to the
landless households so they can grow grasses. The poor group in interview all expected the
project support them with breeding cows, the woman group ranked this activity as priority 3. The
CPC organized a meeting with the Commune woman’s union and agreed to propose this
activity).
g)
Provision of health insurance for people with chronic dieases, the old people without
health insurance. In the survey samples, nearly one third of interviewed households (29.7%)
have chronic disease affected members. Experiences in many other studies prove that disease is a
major risk to many households and cause many households to fall in the poverty spiral.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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Therefore, granting the health insurance to the chronic disease affected people, the old yet having
health insurance (besides the groups of poor, pro-poor, over 80 years old people who are entitled
to the health insurance) shall help reduce risks to many households in the community and also
help release pressure on the over-exploitation of coastal natural resources at any costs.
Conclusion: Following activities are recommended for Ninh Van commune:
1. The Ninh Van intensive breeding shrimp farming and accrediting zone covering 60 ha. It
is proposed the CRSD supplies a system of computers and management software, hires
international consultants to review the project. It is recommended to study the feasibility
of this component.
2. Buidling up an intensive garlic farming area at Bai Truong pass on 47 ha: reclaiming
soils for growing garlic on 23 ha (24 ha was already reclaimed by farmers at cost of about
VND 150 million/ha), setting up an electric supply system towards the garlic farm in a
distance of 1 km (including one low-voltage transformer station, estimated at VND 200250 million). 72% of the land area belongs to poor and pro-poor households. The CRSD
can support 100% of land reclamation cost to the poor households, 80% of cost to propoor households, and about 30-40% of cost to others. The project shall invest in setting
up the electric network for this area.
3. Establish commune-based centers for job introduction, vocational guidance in the
province-level project. The CRSD shall support to buy computers, train and enhance
capacity of the center staff and of commune staff in charge, hire technical assistance
consultant in the first 2 years and supervise its operation in the next 3 years. Set up a
mechanism on evaluating the benefits of the Center staff with number of jobs supplied. It
is recommended to study the feasibility of this component.
4. Support in vocational training for children of poor and pro-poor HHs. The allowance
amount is about VND 1 million per month per pupil for 9 months of a year. The project
will provide allowances for approximately 30 children per year with the total budget of
about VND 150 million in five years.
5. Cash-support to children of the poor households to universalize the secondary schools
and graduate junior high schools. It is estimated about VND 500,000-700,000 per month
in 9 school months per pupil, besides the support for school needs as text books and pens
for the compulsory education program. In case of the junior high education, pupils have
to hire accommodation or pay high expenditures for travelling, they can be subject to a
support of VND 1 million/month/pupil in 9 school months each year. The commune has
about 70 poor and pro-poor households and it is estimated that on average 60% of
households have people enrolling schools and more than a half have more than 1 person
at school (according to the proportion of households with people enrolling in the
surveyed samples) who need suppoting. The project may finance about VND 40-50
million per year, or VND 200-250 million per 5 years in this component.
6. Support to poor households rasing breeding cows, eliminating poverty sustainably: The
project supports to establish a group of poor women raising cows (about 20-22
households/group, raising about 40-50 breeding cows per group, then after 2-3 years of
practicing, calves equivalent to the cows offered can be handed over to another poor
woman group as a revolving fund for poverty reduction which is managed by the
commune woman’s union). The project shall finance about VND 400-500 million for this
component. The commune shall provide land for grass growing to households who have
no land or lack of land in the area where it is proposed for the cemetery planning.
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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7. Provision of health insurance for people with chronic diseases, the old people without
health insurance. The CRSD shall support to obtain health insurances for the
aforementioned groups, besides the existing policy on social welfare on health insurance.
The CPC proposed a list of 56 persons in need for the health insurance so far. The project
can support about VND 30 million per year for the health insurance activity for these
people in need.
Ninh Loc commune, Ninh Hoa town: Focusing in 3 villages along the coast: Tam Ich, Tan
Thuy, Le Cam
a) The 15 ha wetland forerst along the aquaculture ponds in Hon Vung and Nha Phu lagoon and
along canals (public land) in Tan Thuy village. Resulting from the findings by the Consultant about
200 ha of land catergorized in ‘5% land’ of the commune, the Director of Khanh Hoa DARD
suggested to study and include this 200 ha in the project for wetland aforestation and aquaculture as
the priority 1. Advantage is that people who have rent this land for aquaculture failed in the
production and were in debt, both with the bank and the land rental of the commune, therefore, it is
possible to negotiate with them for changing their production model (this activity was ranked by the
catching group in Tan Thuy village as 10.0/10, the group of commune officers: 8.75/10). This activity
is to recover the biological system in Nha Phu lagoon, including the aquatic products, provide
employments and create specialized environment for the wetland ecosystem to grow and develop in
order to pursue the biodiversity and help minimize negative impacts caused by climate change and
environmental pollution.
b) Hon Vung aquaculture group, gathering about 10 households (in less polluted area, able to join with
the wetland forestation activity). (This activity was prioritized 8.8/10 by the aquaculture group in Tam
Ich village)
c) Job introduction, provision of labour market information (focused on marine economy related jobs),
vocational guidance. Establish commune-based centers for job introduction, vocational guidance in
the province-level project (This activity was ranked 8.8/10 by the group of the youth, 8.75/10 by the
group of CPC officers). This activity aims at providing sustainable employment opportunities,
minimize the employment pressure and control the increase of coastal fishing and catching activities.
d) Support for job training to childen of the poor, pro-poor households (this activity was ranked in
priority order of 9.6/10 by the youth group, the catching group in Tan Thuy village ranked 8.3/10, the
aquaculture group in Tam Ich village: 6.0/10, and the CPC officer group: 8.75/10). This activity aims
at minimizing the jobless problem, increase sustainable job opportunities for people in poor, pro-poor
households and control the increase of coastal fishing and catching activities, as main job
opportunities of the poor young people.
e) Cash support for children in the poor, pro-poor households in universalizing the Secondary
education and encouraging graduating the Junior high school (This activity was ranked 9.4/10 by the
youth group, and 9.75/10 by the commune officer group). Connecting with the compulsory education
and routine education activities in the locality, this activity aims at increasing more opportunities for
children of the poor and pro-poor households to have access to job training, find non-farm jobs,
reduce child-labour in coastal fishing and catching activities, and contribute to formulate a new trend
of the education-loved tradition in the coastal area. This helps eliminate the poverty sustainably and
erase the ‘inherit’ poverty from generation to generation.
f) Garbage collection in 3 coastal villages. The project shall provide tools (incorporating in the new
rural development program and the rural clean water supply and sanitation program), the commune
provides dumping-land, and people pay the collection fee (the aquaculture group in Tam Ich village:
10.0/10, the CPC officer group: 10.0/10). This activity aims at controlling the environmental pollution,
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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particularly the water environment for domestic use and aquaculture, enhancing awareness of people
on the environmental protection.
g) Communication on behavior-change towards the regulations on aquatic catching, fishing and
aquaculture, strict compliance with the law and regulations on fishing, catching and farming (the
catching group in Tan Thuy village: 10.0/10, the aquaculture group in Tam Ich village: 9.0/10, the
CPC officer group: 8.75/10).) This activity aims at enhancing the awareness and behavior- change in
the relevant bodies and in the community toward the protection of aquatic resources.
h) Supporting the poor, pro-poor households in extensive farming by providing fund, training in the
project, and land-rental with preferential rate by the commune (the catching group in Tan Thuy
village: 5.6/10, the aquaculture group in Tam Ich village: 10.0/10, the CPC officer group: 9.25/10)
i) Supporting the yough people to pariticpate in the project teams (the youth group: 10.0/10)
k) Aquaculture on lagoon, sea: Oyster, lobster - cage raising, scallop, grouper (farming lobster in cage:
the CPC officer group: 8.0/10, Oyster farming: the catching group in Tan Thuy village: 9.86/10,
Grouper farming: the CPC officer group: 8.0/10, Scallop farming: the CPC officer group: 9.0/10)
l) Raising frogs, fowls, cows (the catching group in Tan Thuy village ranked the frog raising: 8.3/10,
fowl farming: 5.9/10, and cow raising: 3.1/10)
Conclusion: Following activities are recommended for Ninh Loc commune (focusing on 3
coastal villages)
1. Combination of the 2 models: the 15ha wetland forest along the aquaculture ponds in
Hon Vung and Nha Phu lagoon and the Hon Vung aquaculture group, joining about 1015 households. The priority is given to the pro-poor and poor households to participate in
the project for wetland forestation and bio-aquaculture in order to provide them more
jobs and help them reduce poverty. The forest project is financed by the Program on 5
million ha of forest. The CRSD supports the bio-aquaculutre. Hon Vung aquaculture
group shall strictly comply with the technical assistance on aquaculture delivered by the
Department of Aquaculture. It is proposed to study further the economic, technical and
environmental feasibility of this component.
2. Job introduction, provision of labour market information, vocational guidance by the
provincial level project, based in the project commune. It is suggested to study the
feasibility of this component.
3. Assistance in short-, long-term job training, high school, colleage and unverisity levels
for children of the poor, pro-poor households (besides the loans provided for poor pupils,
students by the Bank for the Poor) .
4. Cash support for children in the poor, pro-poor households in universalizing secondary
education and encouraging graduating high schools.
5. Communication on behavior-change towards the regulations on aquatic catching, fishing
and aquaculture, strict compliance with the law and regulations as mentioned above.
6. Garbage collection in 3 coastal villages, the project shall provide tools, the commune
provides dumping-land, and people pay the collection fee. The feasibility of this
component should be studied further.
5.5.3 Soc Trang Province
Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district
Social Assessment Report (SA)
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From the available potential of Vinh Hai commune and the discussion outcomes with the
representatives of the fishing and catching households in My Thanh and Au Tho B villages, some
models of livelihood changes are proposed, discussed and agreed as below.
a) Development of Clam cooperative model
Favored with a breeding clam ground spreading over 18km, at present, Vinh Hai commune already
has one cooperative on Clam with about 510 cooperative members. To obtain the membership of the
cooperative, each labour has to contribute VND 50,000 to the Charter fund and receives a membership
card in return. The Cooperative has one board of managers that are voted by the cooperative members
and functions in managing and regulating the clam exploitation. In harvest time, the members are
allowed to access to the clam growing area managed by the cooperative provided that they have to
bring the membership card. Exploited clams shall be subject to the check by a guardian team in order
to make sure that the exploited products are selective. Clams that are not qualified for being caught
shall be returned to the sea. All catched products are handed over to the cooperative for selling. The
cooperative members are paid for catching labour and 70% of total value of exploited products, 30%
of value remaining is reserved at the welfare fund, management fee, and remuneration fund for the
cooperative members.
Vinh Hai CPC is in process of requesting PPC and DPC to be allowed exploiting further the clam
ground in the commune territory over 15 km. Accordingly, 2 more clam cooperatives shall be set up
with over 1,000 members. This is a favored condition for the coastal catching households to
participate in cooperatives and reduce pressure on coastal catching. The Clam cooperative can
combine to grow, care and protect wetland forests because, at present, the potential of wetland
forestation in Vinh Hai commune is quite huge.
In order to support the long-lasting and profitable performance of Clam cooperative, CPC proposed
the Project gives supports in building up community houses, furnishing equipments and tools for the
cooperative management boards, purchasing canoes for survailence purposes, building up safeguard
towers and marking protection benchmarks around the clam grounds.
The model on Clam cooperative works very effective. In one hand, it brings incomes and jobs to its
members, on the other hand, it ensures that the exploitation is selected and organized meanwhile
enables to protect the clam ground from uncontrolled catching by people from other communes.
However, in order to encourage the coastal catching households to change to work in the clam
cooperative or to change to aquaculture, cultivation or husbandry, the problem is they have to give up
their fishing boats and encounter in difficulties in the initial stage of change process. Therefore, the
people request the project (i) buy their boats/ships (for being demolished); (ii) support for life stability
of all household members in the 1-year transition period; and (iii) support with charter fund that they
have to contribute in order to empower them to become the clam cooperative members.
b) Household resettlement and settled agriculture model
In the model of resettlement in the coastal wetland project implemented in Vinh Chau district, each
relocation household is allocated a plot of 0.5 ha for cultivation. Households combine in the model on
upland-cultivation and crab, fish farming that are profitable, bring stable and sustainable incomes to
households. This model can be applied in Vinh Hai commune because, at present, in the commune,
there are 2 forestations that have dissolved with a total cultivated area covering over 500 ha. This area
is currently for being rented by various companies but the utility is not effective and being encroached
by family households. According to Article 38 in Law on Land 2003, if the land is not used effectively
it will be appropriated. Therefore, Vinh Chau DPC should consider acquiring this land area for
resettlement of the landless catching households in 6 villages in the commune who are subject to the
job changes.
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The issue on how to avoid the situation that people, after being allocated with land, may sell or
morgate the land, has been discussed at the district, commune levels and with people in My Thanh and
Au Tho B villages. According to the district officers at the discussion, DPC would consider to assign
the land to households for their use other than granting them with certificate of the land-use rights.
Vinh Hai CPC officers also agreed with the option proposed by the DPC and would be responsible for
administrating to prevent any case of land transaction or mortage of these households.
While discussing with the group of catching households in My Thanh and Au Tho B villages, it was
assumed that if being assigned with land in the coconut plantation for cultivation whether they agreed
to receive. All households in discussion agreed and said they would be ready to move to that land for
making a living even to resettle, if possible. The model on land management in group of interest was
discussed together with the consultant and was agreed by the people and considered feasible.
Accordingly, the group of interest would be set up in the voluntary manner and vote the group
leader/head who then regulates the operation of the group. Cultivated land would be assigned to
individual households in the group in the contract with commitment of the household not to
transferring or mortaging, and if violated, it would be appropriated. On this base, the group leader and
group members shall manage and supervise themselves. The establishment of the group of the same
interst shall formulate specialized cultivation zones so it facilitates investing in productive
infrastructures, applying advanced science and technology in production, avoiding transmittal of
dieases and reducing interest conflicts between households.
If the model on land assignment is implemented, the project should support in building up
infrastructures in the productive areas such as access roads, irrigation and drainage canals, cultivation
techniques training, fund to implement pilot models. The model on land-based livelihood would be
sustainable and suitable with the capacity as well as the education of the people in Vinh Hai.
c) Upgrading marine fishing ships
Households in My Thanh commune request the project to support them in upgrading their ships from
small capacity (<30 CV) to higher capacity (>60CV) so they can do fishing offshore. However, the
cost of upgrading is quite expensive because it requires reforming ship-body and installing more
machines or replacing machine with higher capacity. It is unlikely feasible if support is delivered to
individual households. Therefore, we propose a model on ship management board by setting up a
group of 3-5 households to contribute their shares and receive partially fund support from the project
to build a new ship 60-90 CV. The group households shall select a group leader and build up the
operation rule of the group. This model was brought for discussion among groups of catching
households in My Thanh village (Vinh Hai) and Mo O village (Trung Binh commune in Tran De
district). However, the officers in the discussion considered that this model was difficult to implement
and unsustainable because the co-ownership might result in the responsibility taken from no one. They
said: “siblings in one family need to divide assets among themselves why the joint-ownership can be
maintained amongst the non-farmily people”.
d) Vocational training and job introduction
The labour resources in Vinh Hai commune in specific and Vinh Chau district in general are abundant
but limited in the quality because most of them are not trained. Therefore, it is necessary to train jobs
for the youth, particularly for young peope in the catching households so they would have more job
opportunities. The model on job training was discussed with the officers in Vinh Chau DPC,
including the center of job training and agricultural extension in the district. Then, CPC would set up a
Service cooperative supplying labor and employment (including the cooperative management board).
The tasks of the cooperative are to gather the training needs of the young people and people in labour
age. This shall facilitate and cooperate with the Job training center in the district to prepare the
program and organize need-oriented training courses. On the other hand, the cooperative shall liason
to introduce employment and supply labor to enterprises or labour employers. This model shall help
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gather a source of skilled and trained labourers to meet the demand of labour employers. Thanks to
this model, the labour employers shall find more confident in recruiting and using labourers, and the
labour employees shall be more confident in finding jobs.
In order to implement this model, the project should support office equipments for the service
cooperatives such as work table, computers, telephones and job training fees for the trainees. The
training courses shall be organized in the commune or any places that are convenient for the trainees
and time suitable with their production plan. In the consultation meetings, the district, commune and
people all agreed and supported this model.
An Thach 3 commune, Cu Lao Dung district
a) Land-based livelihood model
Because the commune’s fund of productive land is currently not available, purchasing land of
households who had much land is the sole solution to establish land fund. At present, the average price
of productive land in the commune is about VND 40 million per 1,000 square meters. Each HH needs
2,000 m2 to 3,000 m2 to develop production. Therefore, to change livelihoods for about 30% of
fishing HHs (32 HHs) to cultivation or aquaculture (culturing snake-head fish, African carp) in
combination with rice cultivation, 100,000 m2 of land is needed, equivalent to VND 4 billion. In
addition, the households should be assisted for technical training, stocks, funds, and subsistence
allowances during conversion time (for at least 6 months).
Results of group discussion with fishing HHs in An Quoi village show that if being provided with
land, the HHs will drop off fishing for aquaculture, cultivation, or breeding.
b) Service co-operatives model
Several HHs asked for support to change their fishing boats to transport boats to provide transport
services of sugar canes, construction materials, and other goods. A service co-operatives model was
discussed. Accordingly, changing of fishing boats (if possible) or build some new transport boats and
establish a co-operatives of transport services. The co-operatives will manage and coordinate
activities of the co-operatives. Because of limited road transport, waterway transportation plays an
important role in Cu Lao Dung. There are great demands of transporting sugar canes from Cu Lao
Dung and other localities to the sugar company in Soc Trang, and construction materials as well as
other goods in the district. This co-operatives model will attract many experienced labourers of
fishing households. The project should provide funds for changing existing boats or building new
boats and purchasing operating equipment for the co-operatives.
c) Breeding model
Since most of fishing households have large garden land, they can build breeding facilities to develop
breeding cattles and poultry such as cows, pigs, chicken, ducks, etc. The project will provide breeds,
funds, and training on breeding techniques. Cows for breeds and cows for beef can be raised. In the
first year, several HHs who have favorable conditions and experiences will implement this model first,
then, after calves are born, they will be delivered to other HHs for breeding as proposed in Ngu Loc
commune, Thanh Hoa.
d) Development of traditional craft and fine arts
The project provides assistance in training of making false eye lashes and fine art products from
coconut trees. The local authorities (at the district and commune levels) provide assistance for output,
for instance, signing contracts for consumption of such products.
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e) Assistance in infrastructure investments
The CPC of An Thach 3 commune requests the project to assist them construct irrigation and transport
systems for the 200 ha planned area for shrimp farming. At present, shrimp farming is viable in only
80 ha because of unreliable irrigation and transportation infrastructure.
Trung Binh commune, Tran De district: Mo O village
Mo O is a poor village that has 136 near-shore fishing HHs with boats of small capacities (< 20 CV)
and simple fishing gear, hence, unselective catch. This is a settlement village under the Government’s
Program 167. Each household was allocated with one one-storeyed, 40m2-large house and no
productive land, thus, their livelihoods depend entirely on fishing. Every day, men go fishing in sea,
women stay at home and do housework. As a result, changing livelihoods for the households in this
commune is a difficult problem. During group discussion with women here, many people said that
they wished to have extra work to reduce the burden on their husbands and children’s shoulders as
well as to lessen catch pressure. However, they did not know what to do because they did not have
land and skills. According to them, if there were any extra work, they were willing to take to increase
the families’ incomes.
Proposed livelihood models:
As at the survey time, all HHs’ male heads were absent for fishing, only women (wives of the
HHs’ heads) participated in discussion. They agreed with the following livelihood conversion
models. Nevertheless, discussions with the male heads are needed to get consensus because men
are directly involved in catching.
a) Fishing co-operatives model
Because the HHs’ boats have small capacities of less than 20CV (engine D), it is not feasible to
improve these boats to large ones. Therefore, it is only possible to build new ships and establish
fishing co-operatives to gather the HHs in these co-operatives. The project will assist in building
new offshore fishing boats and fishing gear and facilities.
b) Handicraft development
Establishing service teams of making and repairing fishing nets, the project provides funds and
technical training, the district and commune people’s committees provides support for the
outputs. This job is suitable for women and can take advantage of their freetime.
c) Mangrove co-management model
The PPCs assign alluvial land to households to plant, look after, protect, and exploit mangroves
under the co-management model as in Vinh Hai, Soc Trang. This can help creating jobs for
women as well. The project provides seedlings, protection facilities, and subsistence allowances
for the first year.
d) Breeding model
There are 17 Kh’mer households living outside the sea dyke, their lives is extremely hard with
no electricity, no domestic water, no productive land, no fishing boats and junks, and their
livelihoods depend entirely on manual near-shore fishing. The model of raising cows for breeds
and cows for beef is proposed by the local people and the project is requested to provide
breeding stocks and funds because there are grass sources along the dyke and at alluvial land.
Therefore, cow breeding model can be suitable here and the breeding mode is as proposed for
Ngu Loc commune, Thanh Hoa province.
Livelihood models for the Kh’mer group in Soc Trang
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The consulters in particular and their community in general deeply wish the project to support them
with stable and sustainable livelihoods to help them get rid of poverty.
a) Cultivation – clam catching livelihood model: They proposed to be provided with productive land
or fund support to hire productive land and drop off fishing. However, because there is no public land
fund available in the village, provision of land in the village is not feasible. Therefore, the project can
only provide fund support for them to hire land or implement resettlement and cultivation settlement
for them. When asking them whether they agreed to resettle and settle their cultivation activities at the
coconut plantation that was 6km far from their current living place, all people accepted and they
wanted have land for production. The cultivation – clam catching model: At present, GTZ mangrove
co-management project has established five co-management etams in Au Tho B village, Vinh Hai
commune, Soc Trang. This is a favorable condition to get the Kh’mer households participating in the
clam co-operatives, combining with mangrove management. The consulted households were willy to
join in the clam co-operatives and asked for the project support of charter capital (VND 50,000 per
labourer) and fund to hire land for production and breeding in 6 months until the clam catching season
because clam can be caught for only 6 months per year.
b) Education universalization: Vocational training for ethnic minority children encounters many
difficulties because their average education attainment is 6-7/12. Hence, the project can provide cash
support for them to finish intermediate or secondary education.
The aforesaid proposed models are similar yet different basing on conditions of livelihood
resources of each coastal community, local socio-economic environment, and needs as well as
capacities of the community, complying with the CRSD project objectives. However, either
similarities or differences of these models direct towards the aim of creating sustainable
alternative livelihoods.
Similarities are normally poverty reduction models – teams/ groups of breeding, processing, services
managed by women, of poor people, human capacity strengthening models: vocational training,
support for education universalization, or models of job orientation and supply, and provision of
information on the labour market. These similarities originates from poor education attainment and
occupations of human resources capital, high job pressure due to population increase during the
population golden ages, poverty, and demands of income source diversification for risk mitigation and
poverty reduction.
Differences are the shrimp sock production and verification model in Ninh Van commune – Khanh
Hoa, the model of garlic and onion planting in Bai Truong pass, Ninh Van – KhanhHoa, the model of
issuance social insurance to the old and the people with chronic illnesses in Ninh Van – Khanh Hoa,
the aquaculture – mangrove model in Hon Vung, Ninh Loc – Khanh Hoa, the service co-operatives
model in An Thach 3 commune – Soc Trang, the clam farming model and the resettlement and
cultivation settlement model for the Kh’mer in Vinh Hai – Soc Trang, the model of effectively
selective and environmentally-friendly changes of fishing in Thanh Hoa. Typical features of several
models come from specific conditions of livelihood resources in the communities or the local socioeconomic environment. For example, Ninh Van shrimp stock production and verification has
favorable conditions that a project has been approved by the authority, the site has been cleared, the
market has a great demand of shrimp stock, the need of shrimp stock quality control for development
of the aquatculture sector, and huge potentials of job introduction in the locality. The model of
effectively selective and environmentally-friendly changes of fishing in Thanh Hoa is feasible because
land resources are rare and it is difficult to convert livelihoods of many fishing households to landbased livelihoods; as a result, this model and other non-land-based alternative models in combination
with some breeding models that do not use much land need to be practised. On the other hand, this is a
change of large volume, low value catching to limited volume, high value exploitation. The strategy of
income source diversification should be also promoted in Thanh Hoa. The settlement and cultivation
settlement for the Kh’mer in Vinh Hai – Soc Trang derives from the community’s demands of
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productive land for alternative livelihoods while the land source of over 500 ha of two dissolved
plantations is used ineffectively and there are successes of the resettlement model implemented under
the mangrove project in Soc Trang, etc. Moreover, piloting the model of disease-born risk prevention
since diseases are one important reason of poverty and increasing pressure on exploitation of fishery
resources at any costs. This model can be piloted through issuing social insurance to the old and
people with chronic illnesses who do not have social insurance in Ninh Van commune.
VI. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1. Conclusion
Normally, nearshore capture HHs are poor, most of them do not have or have very limited productive
land. Their main livelihoods depend on coastal resources from which they earn their main incomes.
Main occupations of almost all household members rely upon exploitation of nearshore resources,
meanwhile these resources become more and more exhausting.
Risks of existing livelihood activities imply vulnerability of the coastal communities. These risks
include hard labouring to avoid a decline in earnings, increasing natural disasters which shorten
working time in seas and endanger people’s lives, capture outputs and actual incomes are decreasing,
epidemics in aquaculture causing severe damages that cannot be recovered in many years, serious lack
of capitals and loan and debt cycles that make it impossible for many households to change their
livelihoods or buy new tackle for more efficient capture fishery, weak sustainability of incomes, dull
economic long-sight, and high rate of poor HHs, etc.
The existing risks of sea economic activities at the surveyed areas originate mainly from insufficient,
poor, and deteriorating livelihood resources (material capital, natural resources capital, human capital,
social capital, and financial capital), poor protection and management of fishery sources, and negative
impacts of external factors, for instance: natural disasters, bad weather, polluted environment,
epidemics, fluctuation in market prices such as those of petrol and gas, breeding food, medicines for
epidemics prevention, and so on.
Poor and weak resources resulting in the aforesaid risks include:

Boats are old with low capacities, there is a large number of boats operating mainly near
shores while the fishery sources is getting exhausted, annual earnings are declining.
Natural disasters, high petrol and oil prices, and exhausting fishery sources are the main
reasons of decreased incomes. This means that the CRSD project should assist the
communities with solutions for offshore capture fishery, minimizing nearshore capture,
selective occupational transition in an effective and environmentally friendly way, as well
as alternatiave livelihoods that do not rely on seas.

Epidemics in aquaculture tend to increase, water environment is polluted, the ability of
refreshing investment in aquaculture is low, and incomes from aquaculture decrease. This
means that the CRSD project should provide integrated solutions to minimize epidemics and
water environment pollution towards sustainable aquaculture.

Inadequate, poor and unsuitable infrastructure for aquaculture increases risks to
aquaculture

Funds are seriously limited, debts are heaped up and solvency is in doubt, investments in
developing production or occupation transition encounter many difficulties. Since lack of
fund – one of the most important resources - is serious and popular, only by co-operating
with banking activities, the CRSD can help the communities to change their livelihoods
sustainably.
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
Lack of productive land is a difficulty for occupational transition. Therefore, land
resources should be made full advantages of in any project areas as rare alternative
resources for the exhausting fishery resources.

Untrained labourers, low education attainment, lack of knowledge, and mainlyexperience-based production increase production risks as well as make it difficult for
occupation changes. This means that vocational training and universalization of
education should be one of basic components of the CRSD to change livelihoods of the
coastal fishermen sustainably.

No co-operation and linkages in production arrangement, and unpractised community-based
management models and marine production team models, etc. increase risks of capture
fishery, aquaculture, and protection of fishery sources. Coastal resources co-management
practice should be a integrated part of the component of sustainable alternative livelihoods
of CRSD project.

Risks resulting in unstable jobs are getting popular. This indicates that the CRSD project
should support creation of sustainable jobs, including not only imminent alternative
livelihoods but also education strengthening for young people, vocational training, job
introduction, sustainable poverty reduction, linkages of occupational groups of various
models, etc. Supporting activities of the CRSD project need to pay special attention to
vulnerable groups such as the poor, the quasi-poor, female labourers, the ethnic
minorities.

Risks of migration and training that does not meet the market demands resulting in losing
of opportunity costs, etc. Thus, if migration is determined as a strategy of creating jobs
and lessening pressure on near-shore fishing, the CRSD project should assist coastal
migrants to find sustainable jobs, overcome and limit risks that they might have to face
with. It is possible, and necessary, for the CRSD project provide assistance in job
orientation activities, vocational training that meet the market demands closely, selection
of credit training centers, provision of information on the labour market, job introduction
to the young.
The CRSD project should provide solutions to limit risks, create sustainable alternative livelihoods
basing on exploiting optimally all household and community resources and taking advantage of all
market and institutional opportunities.
Chances of developing income sources and alternative livelihoods
There are government programs and local suceesful initiatives that could be integrated with the
CRSD project, specially those supporting occupational and vocational training thought for poverty
reduction, It is one feature of Vietnam labour market that labour separation and divison between rural
and urban areas, among various sectors, and among economic components is still popular. Therefore,
if the CRSD project supports provision of information about labour markets, job introctuion, and
linkages the young who have demands of jobs with enterprises that have labor recruitment demands,
lots of alternative jobs could be provided for them. The CRSD project can develop centers of job
introduction to connect labour supply and demand in the project areas and create sustainable jobs.
These centers should be better than existing models of job introduction centers.
On the other hand, the project areas have resources that have not been fully exploited such as 200 ha
of aquaculture land managed by Ninh Loc commune – Khanh Hoa, about 47 ha of land at Bai Truong
pass, Ninh Van – Khanh Hoa where Ly Son garlic can be planted for high economic value, for more
than 500 ha of land in Vinh Hai – Soc Trang of two dissolved plantations, Thanh Binh bay and the
coastal land strip in Hai Ninh commune – Thanh Hoa where clam can be cultured effectively but these
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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areas are currently not used, etc. These are opportunities for diversification of income sources and
creation of sustainable alternative livelihoods for fishing.
The co-operation models between boat owners and fishermen, the clam co-operatives models in Ben
Tre and Soc Trang, the migrants’ social networks, community consultation in this survey on
establishment of breeding female groups in Ninh Van, Ngu Loc, and Hai Ninh communes,
establishment of mangrove co-management teams in Vinh Hai, and so on show possibility of
community participation in the CRSD project activities.
Key orientations to sustainable coastal livelihoods:
* Promote all livelihood resources of households and communities (human capital, natural
capital, physical capital, financial capital and social capital), make use of any market and
institutional opportunities as well as favored conditions in each locality in order to develop
livelihoods that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
* Diversificatoin of income sources is a livelihood strategy of coastal households and
communities in order to mobilize potential resources of households and community for
increasing income to reduce pressure on near-shore fishing. Diversification of income sources
should base on market demands and improve the economic environment of the coastal area,
create a connection of market between the coastal area and other regions, especially the key
economic zones, as well as vocational training and human resources strengthening.
* If the infrastructures and the quality of human resources are the bottle-neck in the national
development, they are also considered as the bottleneck in development of the coastal area. In
the CRSD project, it is essential to concentrate on the training, improvement of human resources
quality as a fundamental and long-term solution for development of the coastal area as well as
sustainable livelihood development in the area.
* The pressure of high population, slow process of the economic development in the coastal
region create high pressure on employment as well as huge uncontrolled migrations to key
economic zones and the Central Highland. This is the utmost important social issue at the coastal
area. Therefore, one of basic solutions in CRSD project is to establish a network of job
introduction, provision of labour market information, vocational guidance, expertise provision,
and building capacity for staff working on labour-employment promotion in the localities which
in turn shall provide replaceable livelihoods whereas the local economic condition, particularly
in non-agricultural sector, has not yet developed. Its combination with job training, assistance in
the compulsory education will likely bring good effects in the long-term. Job promotion and
management of costal resources needs to be linked. Education is a long term investment and if
there are not job opportunities, trained people will continue to migrate to other areas/ regions
* Activities of CRSD project should be integrated with other socioeconomic development
programs and projects in the coastal region, aiming at integrating rare resources (productive land
and material for development of the coastal region and creating sustainable livelihoods.
* The coastal region and livelihood activities of the coastal communities are in the major risk
prone. This causes a majority of the community to fall in the spire of poverty, create more
pressures on the coastal exploitation. Therefore, risk mitigation measures such as agricultural
insurance, ship insurance, life insurance, health insurance, etc. may help reduce negative impacts
from such risks. The CRSD project shall support, promote the community participation in such
insurance activities, so as participate in pilot programs launched by the Government on
agricultural insurance.
* From the above-mentioned orientations, it is possible to classify 3 groups of livelihoods proposed
for the CRSD project:
(i) group of marine exploitation models,
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(ii) group of land-based livelihood models, and
(iii) non-land-based livelihood models (business, services, handicraft,…)
Specific models can be a combination of the above orientations.
6.2 Recommendations

CRSD is a project that assists local authorities to minimize near-shore fishing, yet the
CRDS project can be only effective when the local economic environment is improved,
investments are attracted, the private sector is developed, a lot of non-fishing occupations
are created, and income sources of the coastal communities are diversified. Therefore, the
CRSD project needs to co-operate with and support the local authorities to improve
investment environment, reform administrative procedures, upgrade infrastracture, and
enhance human resources quality.

The alternative livelihood development strategy needs to associate with the resources comanagement model, strengthening of local admistrative capacity for commune people’s
committees, and promotion of inter-sector and inter-region linkages to implement the
aims of reducing near-shore fishing. The CRSD project components should be arranged
to reach such association.

The CRSD project activities have to be synchronized. For example, the CRSD livelihood
supporting activities require a relevant mechanism, training for improved professional
skills, financial assistance, land hiring, etc. The local authorities and agencies play very
important role because their co-operation and assistance is needed for comprehensive
implementation of the CRSD project. Horizontal co-operation among related agencies
could be a difficulty during the CRSD project implementation, so this co-operation
should be monitored and adjusted timely.

Integrating the CRSD project with socio-economic development programs and projects
implemented in the project areas to take advantage of scarce resources, particularly
development programs of economic zones, tourism zones, coastal infrastructure, and
fishery infrastructure, development of new rural areas, job creation, poverty reduction,
rural vocational training, education universalization, and supporting programs for poor
pupils and students, etc. It should be noticed that many Government’s programs have not
been implemented effectively because of sparing and spreading investments of which
efficiency has not been paid due attention. Therefore, integration of CRSD needs to a
supporting threshold that is strong enough to reach the ultimate and sustainable
effectiveness. An integration mechanism should be considered right from beginning of
CRSD project implementation.

One of the key orientations of the CRSD project is taking full advantage of all household
and community resources to create alternative livelihood resources. The local authorities
should carry out an inventory of natural resources in the commune and take advantage of
all land resources, uneffectively used water bodies, credits, and so on to provide coastal
communities with these resources for implementation of alternative livelihood activities
instead of near-shore fishing.

Such resources assistance as land, capital, etc. should pay due attention to solutions how
to ensure that the project beneficiaries are those who change their neashore fishing
livelihood as well as how to diversify income sources for near-shore fishing households.
The disadvantged groups such as the poor, the pro-poor , the single mothers, the ethnic
minorities should be prioritized to participate in the CRSD project.
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The local authorities might choose investments in infrastructure which are very
economically and technically important and easy to manage. However, the CRSD should
pay due attention to investments in activities relating to vocational training, education
universalization, job orientation, job introduction, especially for children of poor and
quasi-poor households, the ethic minority, etc. to create a new trend of directing values of
education, occupations, livelihoods, etc. for the young generation at the coastal region.
Only by changes to non-fishing livelihoods by the young generation at the coastal region,
sustainabily can be created for near-shore fishery resources. The CRSD project might
bring forward breakthroughs towards this direction.

The CRSD should pay attention to the important role of commune’s Women Unions in
implementating alternative livelihood activities, because they were well done in many
community development projects in Viet Nam. Their participation in the project
implementation is also to promote gender equality in the coastal areas.

Training in alternative livelihood activities for the local fishmen should be suitable to
their education degree.

Communications aims at behaviour changes by the communities, the authorities at
various levels for protection of marine environment and near-shore fishery resources
should be treated as a part of the CRSD project.

Consultation with fishing communities when implementing fishery co-management as
follows:
Specific principles for co-management establishment (based on consultation with
potentially affected households).
 The project will promote the establishment of fishery co-management on a trial
basis, and would be rolled out gradually over the course of the project. In rolling
out, the following principles would be observed:
 The establishment of a co-management scheme would be demand driven by both
local government and local fishermen.
 First co-management schemes in a province would be determined on the basis of
species abundance survey in relation to the catch demand.
 Fishery co-managements would be far away geographically – at least in a distance
sufficient to avoid an overlap in boundaries of to-be-established co-management
schemes.
 Types of restriction (to fishing) in a co-management would be selective – driven
by the resource abundance and the demand for the resources by members from
within a co-management. This aims to ensure restricted fishing activities should
be trialed first – for a defined period of time, on the basis of consensus among all
resource users within a co-management, to allows adjustment.
 Each and every of interventions (e.g. change of fishing gear, fishing
pattern/methods, registration of licensing…) will be studied and proposed by the
concerned fishing authorizes/ department at provincial and national level. A close
coordination between national, provincial, district and communal level will be
maintained to ensure all activities/intervention under the project are expedited in
accordance with national and international fishing regulations/ practices.
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 Each project province will develop their own interventions plans (under the
guidance of national and provincial fishing departments) to assure their plan fits
well to their socioeconomic and cultural conditions in an agreed period of time.
When interventions required regional or national commitments, project
management board (central level) will undertake the coordination role to ensure
there is no conflicts arising out of the lack of coordination over the trans-province
or trans-region territorial waters.
General principles for consultations with members within a proposed co-management
scheme:
 To make sure potential adverse impact on the members of a proposed comanagement scheme, particularly the vulnerable households, are
minimized/mitigated, the following approach would be adopted:
 All members of a proposed co-management scheme can take an active part in
analyzing a) the need for a co-management and b) the potential impact of such a
co-management on their fishing activities, their income-generation activities, and
their livelihoods.
 They play an active role in designing the rules/institutional arrangements for the
proposed co-management.
 They can participate in designing, implementing, and monitoring of the
implementation of mitigation measures to effectively manage the potential
adverse impact on their incomes, and/or conflicts that might arise during the
implementation
of
a
co-management.
Local governments as well as fishery authorities, fishery associations should play
a facilitation role in the design of rules/institutional arrangements for a proposed
co-management scheme.
 Rules/institutional arrangements that are designed and agreed upon by members
from a proposed co-management scheme (with the facilitation of local
governments/relevant agencies) should be adopted on a trial basis and allow
adjustment of rules.
 The following activities should be undertaken at the early stage of the planning of
a co-management scheme:
 Stakeholder analysis: to be done to understand the socioeconomic profiles of all
members within in a proposed co-management scheme. At the minimum, the
following factors need to be understood: the level of dependence on the coastal
resources on the part of the members of a proposed co-management scheme, their
well-being, culture and traditions, including the potential roles of local
governments and fishery authorities in facilitating the establishment of a proposed
co-management scheme.
 Criteria for potential adversely affected households: to be developed on the basis
of stakeholder analysis and on the basis of additional support that the project
would provide (as mitigation measures) to ensure potentially affected households
would not be adversely affected as a result of a proposed co-management scheme.
 Grievance redress mechanism: Conflict settlement mechanisms need to be
established at two levels. At the first level, potential conflicts should be identified
through the participatory approach, such as community consultation, to seek for
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preventive measures. At the second level, when conflicts happen, relevant parties
that are in charge of conflict settlement need to be involved in solving the
conflicts – to the satisfaction of affected members in a co-management.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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ANNEX 1: PROJECT PROCESS FRAMEWORK
Preface
This process framework describes the project requirements to deal with social impacts caused by
limited access to near-shore natural resources of coastal communities according to the WB’s
involuntary resettlement policy (OP4.12). Objectives of this Framework are to avoid or mitigate
adverse impacts caused by limited access to near-shore natural resources and to ensure that affected
communities are consulted and participated in the project activities that affect them.
This Framework is prepared on the basis of social assessment conducted by the WB’s specialists in
May 2011 in 3 project provinces – Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang, Vietnam compensation
and resettlement policies, and the WB’s involuntary resettlement policy (OP4.12). This Frame
describes process of participation in project preparation and implementation by the stakeholders,
concentrating on Component 3 which will limit access to near-shore natural resources of coastal
communities. Main contents include: (a) how the project components have been prepared and will be
implemented; (b) how the affected people’s (APs) eligibility will be determined; (c) which allowances
and assistances will be provided for the APs can, by their own efforts, improve or restore their living
standards and livelihoods yet still maintain sustainability of resources or the protected areas; (d) how
potential conflicts relating to the APs/ the affected communities will be resolved; and (e) arrangement,
implementation, and implementation monitoring.
Free, prior and informed consultations with potentially affected ethnic minority peoples indicated
that there is a broad support from these communities for the project implementation. Over the
course of project implementation, if there is any activities that restrict access of ethnic minority
communities to coastal resources, consultation with them will be hold in accordance with the
project' Process Framework to ensure potentially affected communities can participate in
designing, implementing, and monitoring activities that may affect their access to coastal
resources. Also, the project, based on consultation with them, will ensure ethnic minorities present
in project area will benefit from project activities in a way that is culturally appropriate to them.
Consultation with ethnic minority peoples has been conducted/will be conducted in a way that is
appropriate to their social and cultural values, as well as their local conditions
Social Assessment Report (SA)
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I. Introduction
1.1. General information of the project
Vietnam possesses diversified and abundant marine and coastal resources. However, these resources
are under over exploitation that results in increasingly serious depletion and and deterioration of the
coastal eco-environment. There is growing recognition within the Government, local authorities,
various levels, and various sectors that important changes need to be made to protect ans sustainably
use the natural capital on the coast as a means to secure the long-term viability and competitiveness of
the fishery sector and to sustain the coastal economy and related livelihoods. A good foundation of
legal, policy and regulatory measures has already been established, partly with the support of
international development partners. The major gap now lies in implementation of these measures.
Therefore, the Government has proposed the World Bank to finance a project on “Coastal resources
for sustainable development” in order to improve sustainable management of fisheries in 8 coastal
provinces of 3 regions, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh provinces in the central northern
region, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and Khanh Hoa provinces in the central southern region, and Ca Mau
and Soc Trang provinces in the Mekong delta region. The project objectives will be achieved through
3 main project components: (i) institutional capacity strengthening for sustainable coastal resources
management in support of fisheries; (ii) promotion of good practices of sustainable aquaculture; and
(iii) implementation of good practices for sustainable near-shore capture fisheries.
It is estimated that the project main outcome indicators will be as follows:
 Improved planning for the fisheries sector’s development in the project provinces through
integrated spatial planning, integrated risk management assessments, and improved data
collection and dissemination systems;

Enhanced shrimp disease control through promoting the use of certified seed and
monitoring seed quality; introducing and scaling up good aquaculture practices; and
improving disease and risk management in the culture areas supported by the project;

Improved management of near-shore capture fisheries through piloting co-management
models, limiting new registration of small fishing boats, and reducing destructive fishing
gear in selected areas of the project provinces;

Improved livelihoods of coastal communities through designing and implementing
suitable alternative or supplemental livelihood programs for local fishermen who
volunteer to exit the near shore capture fisheries in the selected areas of the project
provinces;

Reduced losses in volume and in value of the catch through improving hygienic
conditions and facilities on fishing boats and at landing sites supported by the project;
Among the above-mentioned three components of the project, Component 3 will limit access and use
of near-shore resources by the coastal communities whose livelihoods depend entirely on near-shore
fishing in the project areas. Therefore, in accordance with the WB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy
(OP4.12), a Process Framework needs to be prepared to ensure the APs’ participation in project
preparation and implementation.
1.2. Information on Component 3: Support in sustainable near-shore fisheries
a) Reasons for design of Component 3
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In comparison with offshore fishing, near-shore fishing contributes less to export yet plays an
important roale in providing either direct or indirect employment to millions of poor people in the
coastal region. Moreover, coastal water bodies are productivity and growing grounds of various
fishery species which will recreate resources for offshore fishing. According to a MARD’s report,
near-shore fishery resources in many areas have been over-exploited by at leats 10% - 20%. The
consultation results with coastal communities also show a dramatic decline in both catch volume and
sizes of fishes. Many fishery species are in danger of extinction. The main factors affecting
sustainability of near-shore fishery include:
Lack of effective management mechanisms and plans: Fishing areas are still considered as “openaccess” to everyone, therefore most fishermen want to catch as much as possible. Despite the approval
of the fisheries law in 2003, its implementation is largely ineffective. In 2009, the government issued
Decree 25/2009/ND-CP adopting integrated coastal zone management measures for protection and
sustainably use of marine and coastal resources. In 2010, another government Decree No.
33/2010/ND-CP was issued to manage fishing activities through allocating near-shore fishing areas
among provinces to implement co-management models for coastal resources. This is the first time
near-shore “open access” fishing areas (with 6 miles from the coastline) have legal “owners” and the
owners are responsible for the planning of the fishing structure as well as protection and management
of the areas which are assigned to them. A good foundation of legal, policy and regulatory measures
has already been established. The major gap now lies in implementation of these measures. To date,
local authorities are still reluctant to enforce the regulations until alternative livelihoods are offered to
poor fishing communities.
Overcapitalization and poor fishing practices: By 2010, there were more than 100,000 small fishing
boats (< 90 CV) operating in near shore waters. This has been imposing a serious pressure to nearshore fisheries and causing hardship for coastal communities. With increased price of petrol and the
Government’s cancellation its subsidy on petrol for near-shore capture fisheries, near-shore fishing
activities are no longer economically viable. A lot of fishermen now are facing difficulties and have
temporarily suspended their fishing near shore. Hence, many of them would like to exit the capture
fisheries sector if they were provided with alternative livelihood opportunities.
Lack of alternative livelihoods for fishermen: To find out alternative livelihoods for local fishermen is
a difficult question for local governments. Opportunities for alternative livelihoods for local fishermen
depend on their resources as well as the local resources available which can be provided to them, for
example, natural capital (land, forests, etc.), financial capital (savings, credits, etc.), human resources
capital (education attainment, health, etc.), social capital (social relationships, social networks, etc.).
Poor supporting infrastructure causing high losses along the supply chains: There are over 80 landing
places in the country, most of them serve offshore fishing vessels while smaller near-shore fishing
boats continue using traditional landing sites that generally have no support services. It is estimated
that due to poor handling and preservation in fishing boats, at land sites, and transportation, losses in
value of the catches are often up to 20-30%. This is resulting in considerable economic losses for
fishermen, a huge waste of resources for the fisheries sector, and serious local pollutions around
landing sites and fish wholesale markets.
b) Objectives of Component 3
Component 3 is designed to support the sustainable management of near-shore capture fisheries,
protect and upgrade fishery infrastructure, improve product quality in order to render livelihoods
more resilient to use coastal resources more sustainably, and assit the Government to implement
the Comprehensive management plan for marine and island resources and environment
protection successfully.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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c) Scope of Component 3
The scope of component 3 is determined based on the aforesaid objectives. Accordingly, the
areas covered by this component need to satisfy conditions to a protected area (as defined by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): A protected area is a clearly defined
geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means,
to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural
values.
In the project context, the areas covered by Component 3 are natural areas along Vietnam
coastlines where biodiversity conservation is associated closely with sustainable use and
exploitation of natural resources as stipulated by the Government and the localities. Because of
extremely long coastlines of eight project provinces and a large number of coastal communities,
and the project approach is implementation by selected sub-projects for various phases in the
project cycle, establishment of criteria for selection of project areas is vital. The methods of
selecting project areas for Component 3 are biodiversity surveys and social assessment studies in
the project provinces. The criteria are: (i) areas of high biodiversity values and of residence and
reproductivity of fishery species; (ii) areas where the communities live mainly on near-shore
capture; and (iii) areas where fishery infrastructure degrades, not ensuring product quality and
food safety.
II. Preparation and Implementation of Component 3
2.1. Design of Component 3
Component 3 is designed to support the sustainable management of near-shore capture fisheries,
upgrade fishery infrastructure assets, improve catching product quality, render livelihoods more
resilient to reduce exploitation pressure on near-shore resources. The design of this component is
based on consultation results with the stakeholders, including the authorities at the provincial, district,
and communal levels, relevant provincial/ district/ commune agencies, and potentially affected fishing
communities.
It is envisaged that Component 3 of the project will be designed with following activities:
a) Assisting preparation and implementation of co-management plans for coastal districts:
To prepare co-management plans for coastal districts, the provinces need to implement the
following activities:
Activity 1: Conducting biodiversity surveys with participation of coastal communities to identify
residence and reproductivity areas of valuable fishery species. These surveys should be designed to
allow participation by the people, particularly the potential affected people, such as through
community consultation, and representatives of affected households. On the basis of results of
biodiversity sruveys and consultation with coastal communities, the provinces determine restricted
areas for preservation.
Activity 2: Benchmarking selected areas and installing signboards. Organizing community
meetings to introduce the marked areas for protection to them, also, signing commitments on
environment and coastal natural resources preservation with coastal communities, and assigning
capture rights to fishermen.
Activity 3: Carrying out social assessment and consulting fishery communities at selected areas
to develop co-management plans that suit economic, social, and cultural conditions of the
localities. Affected communities will propose co-management models and procedures that fit
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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their conditions as well as local conditions, and propose support needed from the project and
authorities of various levels to ensure effective and sustainable implementation of comanagement models.
b) Supporting reduction in small fishing boats and enforcing regulations to control illegal/bad
fishing practices:
To implement this, the project will support to upgrade small boats (of capacity less than 20CV)
to big boats for offshore fishing or provide vocational training for young men so that they do not
have to go fishing as their parents. Following activities need to be implemented during project
preparation and implementation:
Activity 1: Conducting education and awareness campaigns for the communities, targeting the
high risk groups (i.e. trawlers, fishermen of dynamite and chemical fishing), on negative impacts
and risks of destructive or unselective fishing, and the Government’s policies and regulations of
exploitation and protection of coastal resources. Education and communications should be
carried out in various forms, for instance, leaflets, the media, social networks in the
communities, etc. and throughout the whole project process.
Activity 2: Enforcing regulations on new small boat registration to gradually reduce the number
of near shore fishing boats, for example, prohibiting manufacturing and limiting registration of
new small boats (i.e. below 90 CV). To inform these regulations widely to fishery communities
and agitate them for complying with the regulations voluntarily (in combination with
information dissemination).
Activity 3: Upgrading fishing boats and gear in accordance with regulations. The project
executing agency, in co-operation with local authorities, will organize consultation with fishing
communities at the project selected areas to identify criteria of selecting households for the
project, of which compulsory criteria are: (i) households with boats of less than 20 CV; (ii)
households that want upgrade their boats; (iii) captains and machine managers meet technical
requirements as stipulated by laws. Since support from the project is limited, apart from the
aforesaid compulsory criteria, fishing communities can add other criteria for selecting
households for the project. Each province will choose not more than 400 households to
participate in the project.
Activity 4: Providing financial support and vocational training so that fishermen can change their
occupations. The project executing agency, in co-operation with local authorities, to assess
fishermen’s demands of vocational training, especially those of young men. Such assessment
must be based on liberal consultation and dissemination of sufficient information to the
communities so that they can make choices that suit their capacities and conditions as well as
suit the local conditions.
c) Support for alternative livelihood development:
Reduction in small fishing boats and benchmarking restricted, conservative areas will affect
livelihoods of many households, particularly poor HHs whose livelihoods depend entirely on
fishing. Therefore, alternative livelihoods need to be sought for. The project will assit fishing
communities implementing alternative livelihood models proposed by them. To develop
livelihood models that suit capacities of the communities and local conditions, following
activities need to be done:
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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Activity 1: Conducting social assessment and community consultation to understand existing
livelihoods and available capacities of each community and locality. Reviewing alternative
livelihood models that have been carried out successfully in the localities to scale those up.
Activity 2: Selecting households that voluntarily drop off fishing to non-fishing activities.
Organizing consultation sessions with these households to design alternative livelihood models
that suit their capacities and local conditions. Livelihoods should be diversified for all labourers
of affected HHs. AHs propose support needed for successful implementation of the proposed
alternative livelihood movelds. Selecting several of the most pragmatic models to implement in
the first year of the project.
Activity 3: The project executing agence prepares implementation plans for alternative
livelihoods that are proposed by affected communities. The plans should detail specific
conditions for implementing those livelihoods, for example, inputs, outputs, and support from
the project and authorities of various levels as well as stakeholders’ responsibilities, forecasting
factors that can cause negative impacts and remedial solutions.
d) Support for infrastructure upgrading:
Improvement and upgrading of landing sites, fish ports, and fish markets can cause land
acquisition impacts (at small scale) and cancellation of business by some households. To avoid
or mitigate land acquisition impacts, following activities need to be implemented:
Activity 1: Organizing consultative meetings with the APs to discuss about design options in
order to avoid land acquisition. The Consultant present various design options for the APs to
discuss and choose the optimal ones. In the case that land acquisition or other negative impacts
are unavoidable, activities 2 and 3 must be implemented.
Activitiy 2: Conducting inventory of losses of the AHs and developing compensation plans in
compliance with the Government’s compensation policy and the WB’s involuntary resettlement
policy (OP 4.12).
Activity 3: Paying compensation and providing allowances/ assistance for the AHs.
Implementing livelihood and income restoration measures for the AHs, for instance, creating job
opportunities for children of the AHs during project implementation, prioritizing employment of
the AHs’ children for service sites after finishing infrastructure improvement and upgrading.
During the project preparation stage, the mentioned-above activities have been carried out in 3
provinces of Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, and Soc Trang. These procedures will be applied in the
remaining provinces.
2.2 Negative impacts of Component 3
Some activities of Component 3 can cause negative impacts on livelihoods and assets of coastal
communities, for example, restricted access to and use of coastal resources, acquisition of some
households’ land, postponement of production and business activities. Potential impacts can be
summarized in the table below:
The project’s potentially negative impacts
No. Project activity
Potential impact
Mitigation measure
1
Benchmarking
selected  Affecting fishermen’s  Upgrading small boats to big
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
2
3
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areas
and
installing
livelihoods and incomes
signboards,
signing
due to restricted access
commitments
on
to and use of coastal
environment and coastal
resources.
natural
resources  Changing jobs due to
preservation
with
lack
or
loss
of
fishermen, and assigning
occupuations.
capture rights to fishermen
Reducing
small-capacity  Lossing or lacking jobs,
boats
(encouraging
resulting in loss of or
fishermen to drop off
reduction in earnings of
fishing voluntarily and
HHs that have small
transfer to non-fishing
boats.
activities)
 Changing livelihoods
boats for offshore fishing.
 Changing to aquaculture,
cultivation, and breeding.
 Training
non-agricultural
jobs.
 Resettlement and cultivation
settlement for poor HHs that
have no land.
 Changing to aquaculture,
cultivation, and breeding
(for
HHs
that
have
productive land).
 Training
non-agricultural
jobs for AHs’ children.
 Resettlement and cultivation
settlement for poor HHs that
have no land.
 Creating jobs under the
project
Upgrading
fishery  Acquiring land
 Avoiding land acquisition
infrastructure
(improving  Postponing business and
through reviewing possible
landing sites, fish ports, fish
design options
services provision
markets, etc.)
 Paying compenstation for
acquired land and affected
assets.
 Paying compensation for
incomes
lost
during
postponement of business
activities.
All negative impacts on the people and communities need to be avoided or mitigated. In
unavoidable cases, compensation must be provided in compliance with the project Resettlement
Framework and the WB’s involuntary resettlement policy (OP4.14).
III. Eligibility Criteria for Affected People
3.1 Socio-Economic Information of Affected Households
Population features
According to social assessment results, the average numbers of people and labourers of the AHs
(the near-shore fishing group) are 4.79 and 2.94 respectively. In the survey samples, the
proportion of HHs with 5 members or more counts for 60.5%. This means that fishing HHs
usually have many children that leads to high rate of dependents. This is also a common feature
of fishing HHs at coastal communes because fisheries normally requires many labourers and the
human risk rate is high, hence, high birth rate.
Education
Education attainment of HHs’ members over 15 years old is very low: 31.9% finish primary
education, 38.0% finish intermediate education, and only 17.2% finish secondary education.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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Low education attainment is a big obstacle to vocational training for livelihood conversion.
According to consultation results with the communes’ leaders, primary vocational training
usually does not promote its roles after completion. Therefore, on one hand, education
development should be implemented for coastal communities; on the other hand, education
should be integrated with technical secondary training to enhance the workforce quality in order
to ensure sustainable livelihood conversion.
Occupational features
In the survey samples, fishing is the main occupation of more than one half (52.4%) of labourers.
Other fishery occupations such as aquaculture, fishery processing, and fishery services count for
10.3% of labourers. Cultivation and breeding are main occupations of 11.2% of labourers.
Industrial workers – 4.8%, construction and handicraft/ small-scaled industries – 1.0%, the
State’s staff – 3.9%. As such, fisheries count for most of labourers in the surveyed HHs.
The female-headed HH group has a lower rate of fishermen than that of the male-headed HH group
(40.0% against 53.5%). The lowest income group has the highest rate of fishermen (69.2%)
compared to other groups of which these rates are from 40.0% to 56.7%. The ethnic minority
group has a higher rate of fishermen than that of the Kinh group (55.6% compared to 51.8%). The
fisheries group has 99.2% members working as fishermen. This means that the children usually
succeed their parents’ occupations. Hence, to limit and gradually erase near-shore fishing, due
attention should be paid to vocational training for targeting groups that are fishermen’s children so
that they can find non-fishing occupations, not following their parents’ ones.
Incomes
The near-shore fishing group is the group that has limited or no productive land. Particularly, there
are communes such as Ngu Loc commune, Hau Loc district, Thanh Hoa province where fishermen
has no productive land and very limited residential land (about 30-40m2/HH averagely).
Therefore, their income sources reply entirely on fisheries and they usually belong to the lowest
income group. In the survey samples, the average monthly income per capita of this group is VND
275,000 per capita per month, equivalent to 79.8% of the new poverty line (2010) (< VND 400,000
per capita per month).
3.2 Criteria for Determination of Eligible Affected People
Protection and sustainable development of coastal resources will constrain exploitation and use
of these resources by the coastal communities, especially by households whose livelihood
depend entirely on near-shore fishing. Depending on impact levels of exploitation restriction,
consultation with affected groups need to be carried out at both household and community levels
to identify solutions accepted by the affected groups to mitigate adverse impacts and help them
to restore pre-project livelihoods. Criteria of determining eligible affected people are indicated in
the following table:
Criteria for eligible affected people
No. Project impact
1
Restricted exploitation and use of
coastal
resources
due
to
benchmarking
areas
of
management and coastal fishing
among provinces or selected
areas.
2
Losing or reducing jobs due to
Criteria
Method of selection
HHs that have boats of less Social assessment and
than 20CV and are willing community consultation
to change their fishing
activities to non-fishing
jobs.
HHs that have boats of less Social assessment and
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
reduction in small boats through
prohibiting building new boats
and restricting registration of
small boats.
3
Supporting fishermen to change
livelihoods to non-fishing jobs
(vocational
training,
job
creation,
allocation
of
productive land, providing jobs
of fishery services, etc.)
Assiting in improvement of
infrastructure of ports, landing
sites, and fish markets that can
lead to land acquisition and
business
postponement
to
several households.
4
than 20CV and are willing
to participate in. The
number of selected HHs is
not more than 400 HHs per
province. If this number is
exceeded, other criteria
need to be considered.
Fishing HHs that are
willing to change to nonfishing jobs, prioritizing
poor HHs and localities
that do not have productive
land funds.
Multi-purpose landing sites
(landing, small-scale repair,
logistics,
preliminary
processing, markets, etc.)
can provide more jobs for
near-shore fishing HHs
during and after the project.
page 88
community consultation
Social assessment and
community consultation
Social assessment and
community consultation
During the project implementation stage, the above-mentioned criteria will be consulted with
specific communities to adjust to actual conditions of each community. Basing on established
criteria, communities will assess by themselves and select eligible HHs for support. The
implementation steps will be as follows:

Project excuting agencies co-operate with the CPCs to carry out social assessment and
consultation of communities that are determined as being affected by the project.

Basing on social assessment and consultation results, developing criteria of eligibility for
support in mitigating the project impacts.

Making lists of HHs that will be affected by the project, meeting criteria set up by
communities.

Consulting eligible AHs to discuss about their proposed alternative livelihoods and
prepare investment plans as well as implementation plans for those livelihoods.

Discussing alternative livelihoods and implementation plans with the local authorities
Consultation requires participation of HHs from the vulnerable group. They must be prioritized
the first in all project activities. Therefore, developed livelihood plans must be consulted and
participated in by them. To the affected ethnic minority group, liberal consultation, preconsultation, and fully informative consultation should be organized with their participation,
special procedures and measures need to be applied so that they can join in and get benefits from
the project.
During the project preparation stage, in three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa and Soc
Trang, consultation was made with relevant agencies at the provincial, district, and communal
levels as well as with coastal communities to determine groups of people who would be affected
by the project, of which there were two separate consultation sessions with the Kh’mer in Au
Tho B village, Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district, and in Mo O village, Trung Binh
commune, Tran De district, Soc Trang. Groups of identified objects are groups of HHs whose
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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livelihoods rely exclusively on near-shore fishing (within 6 miles from shores). However,
because most of ethnic minority HHs in the coastal communities operate in fisheries, mainly in
near-shore fisheries, and because the project budget is limited, it is necessary to establish criteria
of eligibility for support in mitigating the project impacts and finding alternative livelihoods.
Results of consultation in three survey provinces lead to the criteria for selection of entitled AHs
as follows:

HHs who have small boats and whose livelihoods depend entirely on near-shore fishing,
voluntarily want to change from near-shore fishing to inshore fishing or offshore fishing,
or other alternative livelihoods such as aquaculture, cultivation, and non-agricultural
occupations.

HHs that does not have or have limited productive land

HHs belonging to the vulnerable group, including poor HHs, ethnic minority HHs,
female-headed HHs.
IV. Supporting Measures for the APs’ Livelihood Recovery and Improvement
4.1 Methods and Procedures for the APs to Choose Mitigation Measures for the Project
Impacts
Component 3 activities will cause negative impacts to the local people, including: (i) affecting
directly livelihoods and incomes of near-shore fishing HHs (within 6 miles from shores) because
of constrain on fisheries and use of near-shore resources; (ii) acquiring land and postpone
business activities of some HHs to improve fisheries infrastructure such as building new and
improving landing sites that can serve as shelters against typhoons, fishing ports that can serve as
fish markets, and facilities for fishery support services.
To determine and select mitigation measures or compensation for the project adverse impacts, a
social assessments need to be conducted in which consultation with the affected communities
should be so that the APs can recognize negative impacts caused by the project activities and
propose mitigation measures. The procedures are as follows:


Community meetings with the APs. The project executing agencies, in co-operation with
local authorities, organize meetings for the affected communities to deliver project
information and activities that migh cause adverse impacts to the communities. On the
basis of recognized negative impacts and actual capacity of the communities and affected
households, concerning natural capital (land, forests, etc.), financial capital (savings,
loans, etc.), human resources capital (health, workforce, education attainment, labour
skills, etc.), social capital (social relationships, social networks, etc.), the APs propose
suitable alternative livelihood models.
Preparing implementation plans for mitigation measures: Under guidance of the project
executing agencies, the affected communities develop implementation plans for
alternative livelihoods, which should state clearly input/ output factors, responsibilities of
relevant parties (authorities, the project, APs), and necessary conditions (land, assets,
capital, agricultural promotion, etc.) to ensure successful and sustainable implementation
of the proposed alternative livelihoods.
For impacts caused by building new or improving landing sites, fish markets, and facilities for
fishery support services, mitigation measures should also be discussed with the project
preparation agencies and the affected communities in community meetings, for example,
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Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
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avoiding land acquisition through sensible selection of construction sites and design, improving
and expanding existing landing sites, fish markets, and facilities for fishery support services,
limiting new construction that required land acquisition. If new construction was needed,
attention should be paid to public land or vacant land, and water bodies, avoiding acquiring
productive or residential land of the local people. In cases of unavoidability, a Resettlement Plan
must be prepared to ensure that all project negative impacts on the local peole will be
compensated for and assisted in pursuance with the project Resettlement Framework and the
WB’s involuntary resettlement policy (OP4.12).
During the project preparation stage, the project executing agencies, with assistance from the
WB’s consultants, organized community consultation so that the APs can participate in
discussions and propose mitigation measures or compensation for adverse impacts that suit their
conditions and ensure sustainable development of coastal resources. Mitigation measures and
alternative livelihoods were proposed and agreed for implementation by the APs as presented in
the Annex.
4.2 Some Alternative Livelihood Models
Social assessment results show that three livelihood models can be applied separately or in combination
at the project areas, subject to conditions and capacities of each community and the APs.
(1) The livelihood model of transferring occupations to occupations (converting near-shore
fishing to in-shore anf offshore fishing through improving or changing small boats
(<20CV) to big boats (60CV and 90CV), and selective provision of fishing gear). To
implement this model, the project needs to provide funds to improve boats and buy
fishing gear.
(2) Land-based livelihood models: aquaculture, cultivation, breeding. However, this
livelihood model depends on land funds of HHs or the localities to assign land to HHs
under contracts. Most of fishing HHs have limited or no productive land. Hence,
although this livelihood model is considered as sustainable the most, it is not feasible in
localities where the people and the authorities do not have any available land fund.
(3) Non-land-based livelihood model: trading, services, and processing of aquatic or
agricultural products and other goods; handicraft, small-scale industries, working in
industrial zones or big cities; and labour export. This model requires the project to
provide fund assistance and vocational training for children of the AHs.
V. Conflict Settlement and Grievance Mechanism
5.1 Potential Conflicts
The project activities can cause conflicts among people within one affected community, among
various affected communities at the project areas, and among the affected people with the project
executing agencies or coastal resources preservation and management agencies.
a) Conflicts among affected people within one community
Implementation of co-management models can lead to conflict of interests among affected
people within one community, for example, among participants and non-participants of comanagement models, among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the project.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
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b) Conflicts among communities
Benchmarking for exploitation, fishing, and preservation of coastal resources among provinces
can cuase conflicts among communities at bordering areas during fishing and exploitation
because of violation to the defined areas.
c) Conflicts among affected people and the project executing agencies or coastal resources
management agencies
Constraint of small, near-shore fishing boats under the circumstance of inadequate resources for
livelihood changes for affected households will result in a fact that the AHs will continue nearshore fishing for daily living, or the AHs do not agree with mitigation measures. This will cause
conflicts among the people with exploitation management agencies, the project executing
agencies, and the local authorities.
5.2 Grievance and Conflict Settlement Mechanism
Conflict settlement mechanisms need to be established at two different levels for preventive
purpose (to avoid occurence of any conflicts) and settlement purpose (when conflicts happen). At
the first level, potential conflicts should be identified through the participatory approach, such as
community consultation, to seek for preventive measures. It is extremely essential to have
effective means of media, clear regulations, and the people’s acceptance for coastal resources
management to avoid potential conflicts. At the second level, when conflicts happen, relevant
parties that are in charge of conflict settlement need to be determined. Therefore, a grievance and
conflict settlement mechanism is essential to ensure that all of the APs’ conflicts, complaints,
and grievances are recorded and dealt with timely and satisfactorily. According to Vietnam Law
on Accusation and the WB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OP4.12), a grievance and conflict
settlement mechanism, including 4 steps, are proposed as follows:
Fist Stage, at the commune level: An affected household may bring his/her complaint or
conflicts before any member of the Commune People’s Committee, either through the Villasge
Chief or directly to the CPC, in writing or verbally. The CPC will meet personally with the
aggrieved affected household and will have 5 days following the lodging of the complaint to
resolve it. The CPC is responsible for documenting and keeping file of all complaints that it
handles.
Upon issuance of decision of CPC, the complainants can make an appeal within 30 days. If the
second decision has been issued and the household is still not satisfied with the decision, the
household can elevate his/her complaint to the DPC.
Second Stage, at the district level: Upon receipt of complaint from the household, the DPC will
have 15 days following the lodging of the complaint to resolve the case. The DPC is responsible
for documenting and keeping file of all complaints that it handles.
Upon issuance of decision of DPC, the complainants can make an appeal within 30 days. If the
second decision has been issued and the household is still not satisfied with the decision, the
household can elevate his/her complaint to the PPC.
Third Stage, at the provincial level: Upon receipt of complaint from the household, the PPC will
have 30 days following the lodging of the complaint to resolve the case. The PPC is responsible
for documenting and keeping file of all complaints that reaches the same. Upon issuance of
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decision of PPC, the household can make an appeal within 30 days. If the second decision has
been issued and the household is still not satisfied with the decision, the household can elevate
his/her complaint to the court within 45 days.
Fourth Stage, the Court of Law Arbitrates: Should the complainant file his/her case to the court and
the court rule in favor of the complainant, then Provincial government agency will have to increase
the compensation at a level to be decided by the court. In case the court will rule in favor of PPC,
then the complainant will have to obey the court’s decision.
This grievance settlement mechanism will be included in the project Resettlement Policy
Framework and the Resettlement Plan. Also, it will be announced publicly to the APs during
community consultation during the project implementation stage.
VI. Legal Procedures and Management
6.1 Management and Implementation of this Process Framework
To implement mitigation measures for the project negative impacts on affected people and
communities, participation of various levels and sectors from the central to the local levels and of
the people. The organization, management, and implementation structure and the stakeholders’
responsibilities are agreed as follows:
At the Central level:
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is assigned by the Government to be the
steering and executing agency of this project. The Central Fishery Project Management Unit
(CFPMU) in the MARD has overall responsibility for co-ordinating implementation of proposed
mitigation measures as well as for the project compensation, assistance, and resettlement within the
project. On the other hand, the CFPMU is responsible for training for the project provincies on the
WB’s social safeguard policy and monitoring implementation of mitigation measures by the
project provinces through an external monitoring agency recruited by the CFPMU.
People’s Committees (PCs):
The People’s Committees, in the role of the highest management authority at each level, is
responsible for the State management at the localities. Provincial Resettlement Committees are
only established for special projects. District Resettlement Committees are established for all
projects implemented in the district and led by one Vice Chairman of the DPCs.
Provincial People’s Committees (PPCs):

Issuing the policies of relocation and compensation rates and other directives and
instructions of resettlement and compensation applied to the project.

Approving compensation, allowance, and resettlement plans submitted by District
Resettlement Committees. Under this project, since works to be improved and upgraded
belong to only one district, the PPCs can assign the DPCs to approve compensation plans.

Issuing decisions on land acquisition and assignment for the project

Approving allocation of land plots to relocated families who use affected land without
land title.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 93

Directing relevant provincial Departments and sectors to implement the project activites
within their functions and authorities.

Assigning tasks to the project districts in province and directing implementation.
District People’s Committees (DPCs):
DPCs are responsible for:

Establishing District Resettlement Committees and directing implementation of
compensation and mitigation activities in the districts.

Appointing chairmen of Commune Resettlement Committes.

Certifying land use right applications of the APs.

Approving compensation plants (if being authorized).

Directing district Departments and sectors and village people’s committees of the project
communes to implement the project activities within their authorities and responsibilities.
Village People’s Committees (VPCs):
VPCs are responsible fore:

Establishing village resettlement teams to work with the DRCs

Co-operating with DRCs to implement information dissemination and community
consultation.

Signing compensation documents of the APs

Assisting the stakeholders to implement the project activities in the village areas
6.2 Responsibilities of the Stakeholders in Implementing this Process Framework
Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs):
PPMUs in the DARDs are responsible for co-operating with the CFPMU, the provincial
stakeholders, the DPCs, the DRCs, and the VPCs to implement mitigation activities in order to
minimize the project impacts and compensate. The PPMUs are responsible for monitoring
implementation of such activities within the provinces, also, advising the PPCs to settle conflicts
and grievances of affected people and communities.
District Resettlement Committees (DRCs):
DRCs are responsible for implementing mitigation measures and compensation within the districts.
DRCs co-operate with vocational training centers, continueing education centers, and VPCs of the
project communes to organize short-term and long-term vocational training courses for the APs.
DRCs also take responsibilities for advising the DPCs to settle conflicts and grievances of affected
people and communities.
At the commune levels:
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 94
Establishing project implementation teams to co-operate with DRCs to implement mitigation
measures and compensation within the communes. Verifying conflicts and grievances of the APs
and the affected communities to advise the VPCs’ chairmen for settlement.
Affected people and communities:

Participating in monitoring implementation of the project activities

Implementing impact mitigation measures of the project

Handing over sites for the project (if needed)
6.3 Implementation Budgets and Budget Sources
The budget for the project impact mitigation measures such as assistance in occupational
conversion, vocational training, and implementing alternative livelihood models will be
calculated in details during project implementation. This budget will be covered by the WB’s
loan. The PPMUs are responsible for management and disbursement of allocated funds to
implement the project. Implementation steps are as follows:
(i) On the basis of alternative livelihood plans developed by affected communities, the PPMUs
prepare plans and cost estimates to implement these plans and consult the APs prior to
submission of plans and costs for approval.
(ii) Submitting plans and cost estimates to the authorities for approval.
(iii) After cost estimates are approved, the PPMUs provide funds for HHs, groups of HHs, or
individuals to implement their plans.
Regarding to compensation and allowances for the APs affected through land acquisition or
business postponement, the DRCs are responsible to conduct inventory of affected assets and
prepare compensation plans as well as cost estimates to submit to the authorities for approval.
Compensation prices for affected assets will be replacement prices. The budget for compensation
and allowances will be covered by the provincial budgets. The PPCs of the project provinces are
responsible for providing timely and sufficiently funds for the DRCs for payment and allowances
for the AHs. Specific implementation steps are as follows:
(i) Basing on results of detailed measurement surveys on affected assets of each household,
the DRC prepare compensation plans and cost estimates and consult the APs before
submitting these documents to the authorities for approval;
(ii) After the compensation plans and cost estimates are approved, the DRC make payment
and provide allowances for the APs.
VII. Implementation Monitoring
7.1 Community Monitoring
Negative and positive impacts of the project on the communities and local people in the project
areas as well as implementation efficiency of measures that aims at improving (or at least
recovering) the APs’ incomes and living standards need to be monitored closely during project
implementation. At the community level, a Monitoring Team should be established elected by
households in the community, including representative of both affected and non-affected HHs.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 95
The team needs to appoint one representative to join in the Compensation Team of the
commune. Tasks of the Monitoring Team are to check and supervise implementation of the
project activities at their community, including: implementation of co-management models;
determination of the project negative impacts; selection of eligible HHs for compensation and
allowances; implementation of alternative livelihood models; compensation plans, allowances,
and recovery of AHs livelihoods. Monitoring needs to be carried out right fronm the project
commencement to completion. All dections and findings need to be reported timely to the project
executing agencies and the local authority for remedial actions. Key indicators for monitoring are
as follows:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
Are project activities designed to fit capacities and conditions of the people and the
localities?
Positive and negative impacts of the project on the people and the communities
Mitigation measures for the project adverse impacts and implementation of
mitigation measures
Unanimity and satisfaction levels of the APs on implementation of mitigation
measures
Satisfication of the APs and communities on conflict and grievance settlement
Leveles of openness and transparence during project implementation
Levels of income and livelihood improvement of the APs
7.2 Internal and External Monitoring
a) Internal Monitoring
The PPMUs are responsible for internal monitoring of implementation of this Process
Framework. Internal monitoring reports need to be prepared monthly and submitted to the
central PMU and the WB. The reports must state clearly gaps between actual implementation
and provisions in the Process Framework, the Resettlement Policy Framework, and the WB’s
Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OP4.12). Remedial actions should be also recommended in the
reports. Key monitoring indicators are:
(i) Arranging staff and organization for project implementation
(ii) Consulting affected communities
(iii) Allocating timely and sufficiently budgets for impelementatino of mitigation
measures
(iv) Paying costs to the APs to implement mitigation measures and livelihood changing
(v) Preventing and settleing conflicts and grievances of the affected people/ communities
(vi) Co-operation of relevant agencies regarding to implementation of mitigation
measures
(vii) How are changes of the APs’ livelihoods
(viii) Levels of livelihood improvement of the APs compared to those before the project
(ix) Impacts occurred during the project implementation and remedial actions
b) External Monitoring
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 96
The central PMU needs to recruit an independent agency that has proper capacity and
experiences in monitoring implementation of the WB’s social safeguard policy to monitor
compliance with the project provisions and social safeguard policy as well as implementation of
this PF. Monitoring will be conducted every six (06) months or at mobilization of the central
PMU. Monitoring reports must state clearly gaps between actual implementation and provisions
in the project Resettlement Policy Framework and the WB’s social safeguard policy. Remedial
actions for those gaps should be also recommended in the reports. Key indicators for which
monitoring is required are as follows:
(i) Internal work (organization structure for implementation, internal monitoring and
reporting, updating and recording data)
(ii) Information dissemination and community consultation (numbers of meetings,
contents of information disseminated and consultation, consultation results, etc.)
(iii) Implementation of mitigation measures and alternative livelihoods (proposed
mitigation measures; preparing plans and providing funds for implementation of
alternative livelihoods; levels of compliance with the WB’s involuntary resettlement
policy (OP4.12), the project Resetetlement Framework, the Ethnicity Development
Framework, and this Process Framework; the communities’ participation in
implementing mitigation measures and the project)
(iv) Special policies applicable for vulnerable groups
(v) Grivenace and conflict settlement mechanism (implementation mechanism,
settlement time and results. etc.)
(vi) Satisfiaction levels of the affected people/ community for conflict and grievance
settlement
(vii) Levels of achievement of targets of mitigating and livelihood changing
(viii) Levels of achievement of conservation and limitation of coastal resources
(ix) Outstanding issues, and newly occurred issues during project implementation and
remedial actions.
7.3 Dissemination of the Process Framework
The draft PF will be disseminated to affected communities to inform them about the project and
obtain their comments. When the PF is approved, the official version will be disseminated to
local communities and posted in the WB’s website.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 97
ANNEX 2. Summary of Community Consultation Results
Consultation contents:
-
Information on the project activities (focusing on Components 2 and 3),
-
The project potential impacts (Components 2 and 3),
-
Impact mitigation measures such as assistance and alternative livelihoods proposed by
the local people.
Consultation methods:
- Group discussion with groups of fisherwomen, poor fishermen, ethnic minority fishermen,
aquaculture, aquatic product processing, fishery support services, non-agriculture,
agriculture, fishermen-aquaculture, and young people with the above contents.
- SWOT and priority selection methods are applied in selecting action proposals for the
CRSD project. Some communes select the project activities through priority ranking, some
communes select the activities through marking each project activity from 1 to 10.
Province/
district/
commune
Ninh Van
commune,
Khanh Hoa
Consulting
group
No.
of Consulting
participants date
Group
6
discussion of
Ninh
Van
commune’s
officials
10/5/2011
Participants’ comments
 The key economic sources are
agriculture and industry, remaining
sources are small trading/ business,
Ninh Vam commune has forest land,
cultivative land, and also sea,
favorable for tourism. Some tourism
projects have been operating, yet
unable to settle the local labouring
issue because local labourers’s skills
are low and do not meet requirements.
 Sea land and mountain land count for
a majority of Ninh Van, flat land is
limited, the economy is shifting from
agriculture to industry, agricultural
land is shifting to service land, hence,
land for cultivation and breeding
development is restricted, developing
tourism, real estates, and services.
Coastal areas are prioritized for
tourism and services.
 Difficulties lie in low labour skills and
levels. Fisheries are by seasons, nearshore resources are exhausted, there is
not enough money for investment in
offshore fishing, hence, difficulties.
Cultivation is changing to industrial
cultivation, breeding is developing
towards group breeding and farms
because of limited natural food.
 Project proposals – priority ranking:
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 98
1. Vocational training for fishermen’s
children. 2. Offshore fishing boats. 3.
Medical insurance for the old and the
people with chronic illnesses. 4.
Shrimpstock
production
and
verification center
Group
6
discussion
with
Ninh
Van
fishermen
10/5/2011
 In recent years, the local fishery
resources have been depleted, no
intake/ material sources, it is too
expensive to take intake/ materials in
other provinces, prices have increased
by three times, hence, business has
experienced difficulties.
 Catches of this year compared to
previous years: Fuel prices raise, catch
volume is less, product prices
increase. Goods prices increase much
higher than those in previous years,
thus, the fishermen’s living standards
reduce.
 As fishery resources are getting
exhausted, some people change to
aquaculture, culturing stocks of tiger
shrimp. Some people intended to
catch young tiger shrimp for
aquaculture, yet, due to capital
difficulties (a farming cage requires
several hundreds of million of
Vietnam Dong), people failed.
 Local
people’s
comments
on
contributing their labour and funds to
establish fishery/ trading teams: This
idea is very good, but to implement
successfully, two factors of funds and
the people’s awareness are needed.
Previously, I led farmers, I convinced
them to improve their boats for
offshore fishing that would be more
effective, however, finally, people did
not agree. Their reason was that who
would lead the group of 5 people.
Responding to that, I told them “by
capacity”, yet, they still did not accept
because they did not want to be
directed by the others.
 There are many deficiencies in the
Government’s supporting policies,
loans for the poor for production and
business are so limited and not
enough for investments. Therefore,
fishermen have to borrow money from
individuals
or
magnates.
The
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 99
magnates do not take interests, yet,
they will buy products at cheap prices,
because marine fishery resources are
getting exhausted, fishermen get more
and more debts.
 In the locality, concerning occupation
changes that fit local conditions,
maybe aquaculture is the best choice.
However,
this
requires
funds.
Therefore, it is proposed that funds
are provided for fishermen with longterm interests for production. Loans
should be of 3-5 years long, 1-2 years
is not long enough for production.
Aquaculture can be tiger shrimp and
fish farming in cages. There can be
lots of types of fishes to culture.
 At present, land in the commune is
very limited, land is not enough to
develop onion and garlic planting,
also not enough for grass planting for
cattle
breeding.
Therefore,
aquaculture might be the best option
for the locality.
 People’s difficulties: lack of fund,
land, and techniques. Moreover, there
might be lack of labourers, there are
no local collectors, hence, traders
often squeeze prices. Hoping that
there will be a road connecting to
main land so that transaction can get
better prices. Expensive input,
unstable output.
 Project proposals – priority ranking:
1. Culturing tiger shrimp in cages. 2.
Offshore fishing boats. 3. Vocational
training for fishermen’s children. 4.
Medical insurance for the old and the
people with chronic illnesses. 5.
Shrimpstock
production
and
verification center.
Group
8
discussion
with
agricultural
HHs, Ninh
Van
12/5/2011
 In the village, there is much land that
can be improved to plant garlic and
onion, yet, no funds available.
Establishing co-operatives team to
improve land, expand garlic and onion
planting. There is not enough land for
an planting area for many people but
can establish one group with separate
land. Consumption sources for garlic
and onion. Stable intake sources.
When the intake is stable, people will
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 100
feel more secured.
 Voluntary medical insurance is not
available here because there are no
agencies. Many people want to buy.
 Want to raise pigs, fencing hills and
raise several tens of pigs. Sources of
breed: many in Cam Ranh. A team
can include 4 – 5 people (fathers and
sons), capital needed can be about
VND 150 – 200 million, crop land can
be used to plant crops and sweet
potatoes to feed pigs.
 Want to raise deer for young antlers,
want to pilot in the locality, sources of
food are abundant, it is easier to raise
deer than cows. If successful, can
scale up. Raising 4 deer, 1 male deer
stock prices VND 25 million, 1
female deer stock prices VND 10
million, male deer will provide young
antlers, hence, more expensive, 4 deer
will need VND 100 million in total,
breeding facilities require VND 200
million, areas: 40m2 per facility
 Want to have flooding relief drains,
road designers came from other places
and did not know gulch. Hence, water
is obstructed by the road. Previously,
the commune has a drainage ditch that
operated quite well, yet, the new road
now cut the ditch.
 Project proposals – priority ranking:
1. Vocational training for fishermen’s
children 2. Shrimpstock production
and verification center. 3. National
grid for Bai Truong pass. 4.
Improving land at Bai Truong pass to
plant garlic and onion. 5. Flooding
relief
Group
5
discussion
with
the
female group,
Ninh Van
11/5/2011
 Can establish breeding teams and
groups. The issue is solidarity is needed
to work together. It is advantageous that
women usually establish affection
women’s unions including about 10-20
women and these are a basis to form
breeding teams easily. Up to now, in
breeding and cultivation, women base
on their experiences, not having
participated in any training courses.
Pigpens: 5 pigs in a pen of area 4x5m.
Pigpens must be made of concrete with
heat-resistant roofs and water systems.
Pigpens must be clean to reduce
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 101
diseases and food must be safe. To raise
10 pigs, 2 cells are needed at a
constructicon cost of VND 60 million.
Can change construction materials to
reduce construction costs. Advantages:
Having land to plant vegetables, clean
water, available labourers, having fishes
after going sea to make mash.
 Can establish teams with about 10 HHs
per team, breeding capacity depends on
land area of each HH; if make it like a
model, 10 HHs should raise 200 pigs to
earn profits. Need the project to support
breeds and food. Good breeds are
important to raise quickly and gain high
economic efficiency. If develop a
model, women only have enough
money for breeds, do not have sufficient
money for foods and improvement of
pigpens.
 To process aquatic products, 5-6 HHs
are needed to establish a team.
Consuming fishes of the commune.
When having gained experiences,
people can advise each other and agree
on working methods. Funds are needed
to implement.
 A chicken raising model can be
implemented among about 10 HHs,
funds are needed, coops are not so high.
Will gather some HHs that have large
land, each HH can raise 300 chicken.
The breed price is VND 30,000 per
chick, the capital for 10 HHs with 300
chicken is approximately VND 90
million.
 If teams are established, it will take
about at least 3 years for these teams to
support other teams and groups. Can
support other teams with 50% of funds
of the funded teams.
 Project proposals – priority ranking:
1. Shrimpstock production and
verification center. 2. Clean water. 3.
Support for poor HHs in breeding. 4.
Culturing tiger shrimp in cages. 5.
Offshore fishing boats. 6. Vocational
training for fishermen’s children.
Ninh Loc Group
11
commune,
discussion
Khanh Hoa with
fishermen,
Tan
Thuy
15/5/2011
 Mr. Ho Minh Son, born in 1969, have
junks but sold the 9CV junk because the
revenue was not enough to cover the
costs. Now he is unemployed, but works
as hire-labour in the commune (deputy
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
village, Ninh
Loc, Khanh
Hoa
page 102
header of the village) and gains VND
400,000 per month. Selling the fishing
ship 9CV for VND 5 million, his wife
sells noodles to earn a living for the
whole family, gains about VND 7080,000 per day in profitable days đồng.
Do not have enough money for
vocational training for his children.
Wanted to get his children learn to
repair mobile phones and this costs
about VND 10 million.
 The village has about 70 fishing boats
of which 5-6 are just sold because of
inability to afford fuel. After selling
fishing ships, people purchased small
boats and continued go marine fishing.
Previously they gained VND 100,000,
having sold the ships, they have to use
boats so the income now reduces to
VND 50,000 - 60,000 per day. The sea
water is now polluted, fishes and
shrimps die. In the past husbands did
fishing and got profits, but now, some
gain some loss, last month gained VND
500,000 - 600,000. Do not have fishing
boats, use junks.
 Many young men in the village are
unemployed, doing various of small
work, working in freezing aquatic
products, etc. working as hired
labourers in other places, e.g. harvesting
coffee in Dak Lak – about 50 people,
working in freezing aquatic products (in
Nha Trang) – about 100 people
 Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Van, 32 years old,
education attainment: 4/12, having 3
children, assisting people in selling fish
and shrimp for VND 1 million per
month, her husband goes fishing in sea
with D9 junks and earns VND 3 million
per month. This is less than earings in
the last year (VND 4 million per month)
 Concerning
occupation
coversion,
difficulties lie in no funds. People wish
to have an industrial zone in the village
to work there, yet, if there is an
industrial zone, vocational training will
be in need.
 Changing to oyster culture, some
households are culturing oysters 3km
far from here (Tan Doa, Ninh Ich), their
incomes are quite good. Having known
farming techniques already. However, if
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 103
oyster farming is allowed, a traning
course was still asked for to ensure
precise techniques. Can establish groups
of 5-10 people to establish farms. About
VND 200 million should be provided as
an investment for 5 people
 Le Van Hai: In addition, if land is
available, will raise chicken and cows.
In 2003, raised more than 10 cows but
failed, cows died of diseases though
vaccination had been done. If funds are
available, will raise chicken because
there is nobody to take care of cows. If
building chicken farm, the scope will be
more than 1,000 chickens that requires
lots of money.
 Ho Minh Son: if having VND 15-20
million, will raise frogs at home, land is
available for about several tens of frog
ponds. Many people raised frog in the
district, can learn them. Food for frog is
trash fish and vegetables at very cheap
price of VND 5,000 per kilogram. Little
fund, quick recovery. We can build pilot
models in the firsth 2 years, if
successful, will scale up in next 3 years.
 If plant mangroves to recover the
environment, it takes about 5-7 years.
Every body know planting techniques,
if assistance is available, many people
will join in. If implementing, land,
people who take care, and seedlings
(VND 10,000 – 15,000 per kilogram)
are needed. When there are many
mangrove trees, fish and shrimp will
come back.
 Oyster farming: need to organize
training courses on culturing techniques
and provide funds. Advantages:
available workforce, local seed, can
establish teams, first should pilot 3 HHs
then scaling up, pilot duration: 1 year.
Assessing for lessons learnt.
 Project proposals: Mangrove forests:
10/10; oyster farming: 9.8; clam
farming: 3.6; assistance for poor HHs in
extensive aquaculture farming: 5.7;
vocational training for children from
poor HHs: 8.3/10; communications to
change fishing practice: 10/10; raising
frogs - 8.3/10, cows – 3.1/10, amd
chickens – 5.9/10
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Group
10
discussion
with
the
aquaculture
group, Tam
Ich village,
Ninh Loc
16/5/2011
page 104
 Nguyen Quoc Hau, 45 years old,
education attainment 5/12, culturing
shrimp semi-industrially in an area of
35,000m2. All assets are in pledge,
owing the bank VND 180 million which
is over payment due since 2003. At
present, do extensive farming, the wife
sell noodles that cannot ensure basic
demands, 2 sons are workers, 1 son is
soldier, and 2 children going to schools.
 All get overdue debts and cannot get
more. The smallest debt is VND 40
million, the highest debt is VND 180
million. Now they have only land left,
most of which is farmed extensively.
Some people hired ponds, yet having
given back.
 It is difficult to establish teams and
group, each person has his/ her own
ideas, used to have a group model yet
failed. Establish groups of 10 HHs at
the clean water area (Hon Dung). This
area is not polluted, the HHs need
support for breeds, seedlings, and
funds.
 At present, there are many companies
but salaries are too low, insufficient for
basic living, therefore, people do not
want to work there
 Ho Minh Son, Ninh Loc commune,
Khanh Hoa, born 1969, have 2 children
who dropped off schools at grade 9 and
grade 10, many children in the village
dropped off schools because of
insufficient money for tuition fees. Do
not have enough money for them to gain
vocational training. Intend to get his
children to learn to repair mobile
phones that costs about VND 10 million
 Children are assisted with tuition and
training fees but no one go to schools
because they are afraid that there will
be no jobs for them (learning to be
tailors, welders, cooks, poor HHs are
assisted with VND 15,000, and VND
200,000 for petrol costs for three
months, quasi-poor HHs are assisted
with VND 70,000, yet they have to pay
for food and petrol themselves
 Project proposals: Establishing Hon
Vung aquaculture group: 8.8/10;
Vocational training for poor HHs’
children: 6/10; Supporting poor HHs
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 105
with extensive aquaculture farming:
10/10; prohibiting production and sale
of
bamboo
traps:
10/10;
communications for changes of fishing
practices: 9/10; collecting wastes in 3
coastal villages: 10/10.
Hai
Ninh
commune,
Tinh Gia,
Thanh Hoa
Group
4
discussion
with young
men,
Ninh
Loc
17/5/2011
 Project proposals: Vocational training
for poor HHs’ children: 9.6/10; Job
introduction: 8.8/10; Cash support to
poor HHs’ children to obtain education
universalization: 9.4/10
Group
5
discussion
with
the
officials of
Ninh
Loc
commune
17/5/2011
 Project proposal: Mangroves: 8.75/10;
Prohibiting production and sale of
bamboo
traps:
9.25/10;
Job
introduction: 8.75/10; Collecting wastes
at 3 coastal villages: 10/10; Cash
support to poor HHs’ children to obtain
education universalization: 9.75/10;
Raising lobsters in cages: 8.0/10,
grouper: 8.0/10, green clam: 9.0/10,
sweet snails: 6.0/10
Group
10
discussion
with
the
fishermen
group in Hai
Ninh
27/5/2011
 Mr. Vu Huy Hong said that: “Earnings
in recent years have reduced in terms of
yields and incomes. Last year, the
average output was 330 - 350 kg per
month, yet this year the average output
is only 300kg per month. Fishes of high
value are getting rare, main catched
fishes are flat fish, flounder, …”
 Mr. Le Trung Tuyen who has a 18CV
ship said that in the last 2 years, the
production has reduced 30%, trash fish
make up 2/3 of total production.
Previously not many losses in fishing
they’d ever to suffer as presently.
 Mr. Le Van Hung, 30 years old, who
has one guffa equipped with motor D6
gained about VND 3 million per month
in 2010, so far, only VND 2 million per
month.
 Fishery is not viable anymore, do not
want to do fishery as well. Hope that
the children can go to schools to have
stable jobs. Want to change
livelihoods
to
aquatic
product
processing and trading, and selling
fishing gear. Yet, do not have funds.
Have taken bank loans and borrowed
money from relatives for children to
go to schools. Do not dare to borrow
more because earning money is
difficult now, hence, it is hard to pay
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 106
debts.
 Le Cong Tuan, Hai Ninh commune, 30
years old, education attainment 3/12, his
father went marine fishing and died,
hence, he had to drop off shool.
Education attainment of his wife is 67/12, have two small children. “Do not
want my children to succeed my
occupation, want the children to learn
completely”. His wife does small trade
at home for an earning of VND 400,000
– 500,000 per month. Going marine
fishing, boat 22CV, fishing within 5-6
miles from the shore. Income is VND
25-26 miilion per month, after
excluding operation costs, the net
earnings is VND 17 – 20 million, and
his actual income is VND 4 – 5 million
after dividing the net earnings to other
fishermen, stay in a one-storeyed house
with his parent. His mother does
housework and unravels fishing nets.
 Vu Huy Chuc 51 years old, education
attainment 7/10, have 3 children, the
eldest who is 22 years old is a river
transport worker for a private transport
company in the province. Learning two
years at a technical secondary school.
The second child, 18 years old, has the
education attainment 11/12, goes marine
fishing with the father, he also like to
obtain vocational training to repair
machines, learn about mechanics, if the
project supports vocational training, I
will ask whether he wants or not, then
decide. The HH belongs to the poor
group. Have a boat of 18CV for marine
fishing, use catgut nets. Fishery is
underdeveloped in the locality, mostly
near-shore fishing, wish to go offshore
fishing. Go fishing with children and
nephews. Total income of the family is
VND 25 million per month, and the net
profit is VND 17 million.
 Later, if fishery cannot ensure basic
living, will work for other people,
develop aquaculture and services, yet,
there has been no investment projects.
 Females: if having funds, will change
occupations to polishing junks and
shells, doing near shore, incomes can be
VND 8 million per month, the average
income in a year is VND 3.5-4 million
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 107
per month.
 Management of fishing boats is not
completely strict, have not been able to
control various types of fishing boats,
and fishing zones. As a result, small
fishing boats cannot operate.
 Young men do not want to do marine
fishery anymore, want to do something
more stably, e.g. gill net, shellfish
cages. Boats have to be improved if
want to do gill net or shellfish cages. A
shellfish cage prices VND 60,000 70,000 per unit, a crab cage prices VND
120,000 per unit. At least VND 700 –
800 million is needed for investment in
fishing boats with crab cages. Providing
jobs for abot 10 labourers.
 For women who have coracles, the
incomes are too low, can change
occupations to providing ice for boats,
about VND 300 – 400 million is needed
for an ice machine.
 Catches with shellfish and crab cages,
piloting 2 boats, each boat includes 5-7
HHs, the project finances VND 40-60
million, there are around 500 cages.
 Though boats are old, when lift nets are
provided, catches are feasible, will go
offshore fishing because only by that,
fishes are caught. However, need to
consider conditions of boats whether
they can go offshore. In Ben Tra, it
costs VND 250 – 300 million for a
trawler, VND 20 – 30 million for boats
with nets. On boats, 2 to 3 nets are often
used. It costs VND 40 – 60 million for
boats with shellfish cages.
 Project proposal: Clam farming: 7.6/10;
Improved traps and cages: 6.4/10;
Complex trawl: 6.7/10; shellfish/ crab
lift nets: 7.9/10; Vocational training:
8.6/10; Education universalization for
poor HHs’ children: 9.4; Aquatic
product processing: 7.6/10; Fishery
services: 7.4/10, Job introduction: 9.3;
Aquaculture in combination with
mangroves: 7.7/10; Pig raising:
8.0/10; poultry raising: 6.7/10.
Group
discussion
with
aquaculture,
9
27/5/2011
 Project proposal: Clam farming: 10/10;
Improved traps and cages: 10/10;
Complex trawl: 9,4/10; shellfish/ crab
lift nets: 9.7/10; Vocational training:
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
processing,
and services
groups in Hai
Ninh
Ngu
Loc
commune,
Hau
Loc,
Thanh Hoa
page 108
10/10; Education universalization for
poor HHs’ children: 10/10; Aquatic
product processing: 9.9/10; Fishery
services: 7.4/10, Job introduction:
9.9/10; Aquaculture in combination
with mangroves: 10/10; Pig raising:
8.7/10; poultry raising: 8.8/10
GD with the 8
female group,
Hai Ninh
26/5/2011
 Project proposal: Clam farming: 8.0/10;
Improving boats/ ships, large nets:
8.0/10; Vocational training: 9.1/10;
Education universalization for poor
HHs’ children: 10/10; Aquatic product
processing: 8.9/10; Job introduction:
9.0/10; Pig raising: 8.6/10; poultry
raising: 6.0/10
GD with poor 8
fishermen,
Hai Ninh
26/5/2011
 Project proposal: Clam farming: 9.8/10;
Aquaculture in combination with
mangroves:
10/10;
Vocational
training:
10/10;
Education
universalization for poor HHs’
children: 10/10; Aquatic product
processing: 10/10; Fishery services:
9.4/10; Job introduction: 10/10; Pig
raising: 10/10; poultry raising: 10/10
GD with the 9
commune
officials, Hai
Ninh
26/5/2011
 Project proposal: Clam farming in
Thanh Binh bay: 10/10; Improved
traps and cages: 7.7/10; Complex
trawl: 7.2/10; Shellfish/ crab lift nets:
9.4/10; Vocational training:10/10;
Education universalization for poor
HHs’ children: 10/10; Aquatic product
processing: 9.8/10; Fishery services:
7.9/10, Job introduction: 9.7/10;
Aquaculture in combination with
mangroves: 10/10; Pig raising: 7.8/10;
poultry raising: 7.3/10
Group
20
discussion
with
the
aquaculture,
processing,
and services
group, Ngu
Loc
24/5/2011
 Project proposals: Clam farming:
7.7/10; Improving boats: 8.3/10;
Improved traps and cages: 7.5/10;
Complex trawl: 7.1/10; squid fishing
cum 4-tagged net: 8.7/10; Vocational
training: 8.4/10; aquatic product
processing: 8.0/10; fishery services:
7.6/10; job introduction: 7.8/10;
education universalization for poor
HHs’ children: 9.0/10; short-term
technical
training
for
project
activities: 8.7/10
GD with the 11
fishermen
group, Ngu
Loc
24/5/2011
 Male, 1982, has a boat of 82CV, has
been catching for 3 years, yet no
savings, tends to quit fishing for
labour export but does not have fund.
Need to borrow VND 100 million.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 109
Male, 54 years old, 3 brothers share a
boat of 82CV, tends to change to clam
farming for long-term reliability
because catching depends on weather
that is not favorable. Tend to hire Da
Loc land owned by the State - 3 ha,
capital for land and seeds is more than
VND 1 billion, owing VND 230
million for catching equipment, now
will have around VND 450 million if
selling the boat. Young men
understand that they need vocational
training
 The most difficulty of occupation
changes is lack of fund. Want to
change to catching with improved
traps and cages or change from “giã
nhặt” to “giã thưa (giã xưa)”, but have
to increase boat capacity to over
90CV, costing about VND 300 million.
One pair of boats needs 5 labourers.
 Project proposals: Clam farming:
8.3/10; Improving boats: 7.6/10;
Improved traps and cages: 5.0/10;
Complex trawl: 5.0/10; squid fishing
cum 4-tagged net: 8.0/10; Vocational
training: 9.1/10; aquatic product
processing: 7.5/10; fishery services:
7.3/10; job introduction: 9.2/10.
Group
8
discussion
with Ngu Loc
commune’s
officials
24/5/2011
 In the past five years, there have been
about 2000 migrants, 200 HHs earn
their incomes in other places of which
some HHs bring their children with
them, some leave their children at
home. It is estimated that 400-500
people work as house-workers in Hanoi
and other provinces. If people do not
work in other places, they have nothing
to do here; hence, they have to go.
Changing from one fishery operations to
other operations: hooking and lining is
highly appreciated by the local people,
catches with improved cages is more
appreciated by the commune’s leaders.
 Vocational training for poor HHs’
children is extremely appreciated. The
HHs are often poor becuase they do not
have
labourers
(passing
away,
illnesses).
 Trap catching highly depends on
weather, trawlers require investment of
VND 230-330 million, and VND 150
million for small trawls. Boats are of
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 110
60-90CV, do not have to go near-shore
fishing within 12-18 miles from shores,
do not depend on materials.
 Project proposals: Clam farming:
8.9/10; Improved traps and cages:
8.6/10; Complex trawls: 8.1/10; squid
fishing cum 4-tagged net: 8.0/10;
vocational training: 9.8/10; aquatic
product processing: 8.3/10; fishery
services: 8.0/10.
Group
13
discussion
with young
men,
Ngu
Loc
25/5/2011
 I finished high school and passed the
entrance exam of falcuty of Technology
and Informatics – National University –
with mark 22 out of 30 in total, but I did
not go to university because my family
is poor. My father is a wounded soldier,
I did not reserve my registration at the
university, tend to obtain vocational
training.
 Male, 29 years old, dropped off school
at grade 9, father died long time ago,
has many brothers and sisters. Hope to
get assistance in finding occupations:
aquaculture, raising gecko, need VND
200 million. Married, has children, is
not going to learn at any training
facilities, only looks for job.
 25 years old, education attainment
11/12, unemployed, the family goes
marine fishing, do not go fishing with
the family because it is so strenuous.
Wish to find some job, have not thought
of working far away from the living
places.
 In the children’s circumstances, cash
support of VND 1.5 million is not
enough to learn at universities or junior
colleges. The locality depends on the
sea, land is for housing only, not for
breeding. Most of young men go to
work oversea. Wish to have a vocational
training at the commune and jobs at the
locality.
 3 concerning issues: 1. Experiences,
encountering many difficulties when
apply for jobs since experiences are
required in many places. 2. Working
environment: at schools, only learning
theories, how can work it out smoothy
in practice. 3. Capacity. Hence,
assistance is needed so that young men
can select good jobs. Some people who
do not go to schools want to be
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 111
provided
with
information
and
vocational training to find jobs. People
who go to schools want to be provided
with information for career orientation
and selection of study fields.
An Thach 3 Group
commune,
discussion
Soc Trang
with
the
fishermen of
An
Quoi
village, An
Thach
 The fishing HHs discussed and said that
if being allocated with land, HHs would
quit fishing and start aquaculture,
cultivation, or breeding. Because the
commune’s fund of productive land is
currently not available, purchasing land
of households who had much land is
the sole solution to establish land fund.
At present, the average price of
productive land in the commune is
about VND 40 million per 1,000 square
meters. Each HH needs 2,000 m2 to
3,000 m2 to develop production.
Therefore, to change livelihoods for
about 30% of fishing HHs (32 HHs) to
cultivation or aquaculture (culturing
snake-head fish, African carp) in
combination with rice cultivation,
100,000 m2 of land is needed,
equivalent to VND 4 billion. In
addition, the households should be
assisted for technical training, stocks,
funds, and subsistence allowances
during conversion time (for at least 6
months).
An Thach 3 Group
commune,
discussion
Soc Trang
with
the
fishermen,
An Thach 3
commune
 Several HHs asked for support to
change their fishing boats to transport
boats to provide transport services of
sugar canes, construction materials, and
other goods. A service co-operatives
model was discussed. Accordingly,
changing of fishing boats (if possible) or
build some new transport boats and
establish a co-operatives of transport
services. The co-operatives will manage
and coordinate activities of the cooperatives. Because of limited road
transport, waterway transportation plays
an important role in Cu Lao Dung. There
are great demands of transporting sugar
canes from Cu Lao Dung and other
localities to the sugar company in Soc
Trang, and construction materials as well
as other goods in the district. This cooperatives model will attract many
experienced labourers of fishing
households. The project should provide
funds for changing existing boats or
building new boats and purchasing
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 112
operating equipment
operatives.
for
the
co-
 Since most of fishing households have
large garden land, they can build
breeding facilities to develop breeding
cattles and poultry such as cows, pigs,
chicken, ducks, etc. The project will
provide breeds, funds, and training on
breeding techniques. Cows for breeds
and cows for beef can be raised. In the
first year, several HHs who have
favorable conditions and experiences
will implement this model first, then,
after calves are born, they will be
delivered to other HHs for breeding.
 The project provides assistance in
training of making false eye lashes and
fine art products from coconut trees.
The local authorities (at the district and
commune levels) provide assistance for
output, for instance, signing contracts
for consumption of such products.
Vinh
Hai Group
commune,
discussion
Soc Trang
with
fishermen,
My
Thanh
village, Vinh
Hai
 Households in My Thanh commune
request the project to support them in
upgrading their ships from small capacity
(<30 CV) to higher capacity (>60CV) so
they can do fishing offshore. However,
the cost of upgrading is quite expensive
because it requires reforming ship-body
and installing more machines or
replacing machine with higher capacity.
It is unlikely feasible if support is
delivered to individual households.
Therefore, we propose a model on ship
management board by setting up a group
of 3-5 households to contribute their
shares and receive partially fund support
from the project to build a new ship with
60-90 CV. The group households shall
select a group leader and build up the
operation rule of the group. However, the
HHs in the discussion considered that
this model was difficult to implement
and unsustainable because the coownership might result in the
responsibility taken from no one. They
said: “siblings in one family need to
divide assets among themselves why the
joint-ownership can be maintained
amongst the non-farmily people”.
Vinh
Hai Group
commune,
discussion
Soc Trang
with
fishermen,
 The fishermen group in Au Tho B
villages discussed about an assumption
that if being assigned with land in the
coconut plantation for cultivation
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
Au Tho B
villages,
Vinh
Hai
commune
page 113
whether they agreed to receive. All
households in discussion agreed and
said they would be ready to move to
that land for making a living even to
resettle, if possible. The model on land
management in group of interest was
discussed together with the consultant
and was agreed by the people and
considered feasible. Accordingly, the
group of interest would be set up in the
voluntary manner and vote the group
leader/head who then regulates the
operation of the group. Cultivated land
would be assigned to individual
households in the group in the contract
with commitment of the household not
to transferring or mortaging, and if
violated, it would be appropriated. On
this base, the group leader and group
members shall manage and supervise
themselvesThe establishment of the
group of the same interst shall formulate
specialized cultivation zones so it
facilitates investing in productive
infrastructures, applying advanced
science and technology in production,
avoiding transmittal of dieases and
reducing interest conflicts between
households. If the model on land
assignment is implemented, the project
should support in building up
infrastructures in the productive areas
such as access roads, irrigation and
drainage canals, cultivation techniques
training, fund to implement pilot
models. The model on land-based
livelihood would be sustainable and
suitable with the capacity as well as the
education of the people in Vinh Hai.
However, to near-shore fishing HHs,
changing to cultivation and breeding is
not easy. Therefore, the project needs to
provide support of vocational training
and training on cultivation skills.
Experiences of resettlement and
cultivation settlement gained in the
mangrove project should be scaled up.
 With the advantage of a clam stock
grounds spreading over 18 km, at
present, Vinh Hai commune – Soc
Trang has established a clam cooperatives with about 510 member
households. The co-operatives has a
Management Board elected by its
members to run and manage clam
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 114
exploitation. During the harvest time,
the members are allowed to access to
the clam grounds managed by the cooperative to exploit. Caught clam must
be checked by the Security Team to
ensure that all caught clam are selective.
Clam that do not meet exploitation
standards will have to taken back to the
sea. All caught clam are given to the cooperatives for consumption. The
members are paid for their labour and
70% value of caught clam, 30% is kept
for affair fund, management fees, and
salaries for the co-operative members.
The clam co-operatives model has been
operating very effectively. On one hand,
it provides jobs and incomes for
member households, on the other hand,
it ensures selective and organized
exploitation of, also, it protects the clam
ground from arbitrary exploitation by
fishermen from other places. At
present, Vinh Hai CPC is requesting
the DPC and the PPC to allow
exploitation of another clam grounds
at the commune with a length of about
15km. Accordingly, two more clam cooperatives will be established with more
than 1,000 members. This is an
advantage for near-shore fishing HHs to
participate in co-operatives and lessen
pressure on near-shore fishery. The
clam co-operatives can operate in
combination with planting, caring, and
protecting mangroves because Vinh Hai
commune has great potentials of
mangrove development. The CPC asks
for the project’s assistance in building a
community house and operating
equipment and facilities for the
Management Board of the cooperatives, buying canoes for patrolling,
protecting sentry boxes, and setting up
landmarks to protect the clam grounds.
The households suggest the project to
buy their boats (for destruction) and
provide
them
with
subsistence
allowances for the first year when they
change their occupations.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 115
ANNEX 3. Socio-Economic Information of the Surveyed Provinces
3.1.1 Thanh Hoa Province
a) Natural conditions
Thanh Hoa province locates at the north pole of the Central Region, and is 150km from Hanoi Capital
in the south and about 1,560km from Ho Chi Minh city. The province borders three provinces of Son
La, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh in the North, Nghe An province in the South, Hua Phan province of the
Republic Democratic of Laos in the West, and the Tonkin Bay in the East. Thanh Hoa locates in an
area under impacts from important economic zones of the North of Vietnam as well as from the
northern provinces of Laos, and is an important economic zone of the Central Region. Thanh Hoa is
the gateway which connects the North and the Central Regions of Vietnam. It has very favorable
traffic systems, such as the national railway, Ho Chi Minh highway, the national highways No. 1A,
10, 45, 47, and 217; Nghi Son deep-water sea port and favorable river systems for transportation
between the North and the South, among the provincial areas, and to foreign countries.
Thanh Hoa has a natural area of 1,112,033 ha of which there is 245,367 ha of agriculture land;
553,999 ha of forestry land; 10,157 ha of aquaculture land; and 153,520 ha of unused for fruit treew.
Thanh Hoa has 102 km of coastline and 17,000 km2 of territorial water area with fishing and shrimp
grounds of large reserves. There are five large bays along the coastline which are favorable for
travelling of fishing ships. This is also the fishery center of the province. At the bays, there are mud
and sand alluvial grounds of thousands of hectares which provide wonderful conditions for
aquaculture, planting of sedges and wave-block plants and for salt production. Brine water areas in Me
and Bien Son sea islands are suitable for garrupa, pearl oysters, lobsters and thousands of hectares of
inshore sea water are suitable for breeding of mollusks such as oysters, arc, etc. Thanh Hoa sea has a
reserve of 100,000 to 120,000 tons of marine products with a lot of species of high economic values.
b) Social demography
In total, Thanh Hoa province has a population of 3.43 million of people (2009); contributing to 4.2 %
of the country’s population. Unemployment rate in rural areas reduced from 8% to 7.2%. Rate of
labouring time in rural areas increased from 77.0% to 85.0%, rate of poor HHs declined rapidly from
34.7% in 2005 to 15.0% in 2010 (According to the draft socio-economic and defence – security
development plan 2011-2015 of Thanh Hoa province by Thanh Hoa PPC).
c) Infrastructure
Industrial zones
Thanh Hoa aims to develop 8 economic zones, centralized industrial zones. At present, 5
economic and industrial zones have been established, namely: Nghi Son economic zone, Le Mon
industrial zone, Dinh Huong – Tay Ga industrial zone, Bim Son industrial zone, and Lam Son
industrial zone with orientation of developing the petrochemical and petro refinement industry,
electricity, cement, construction materials, steel refinement, automobile assembly, manufacturing
mechanics, electronics, sugar, paper, fertilizers, etc.
Education
All education levels, from pre-primary to secondary education experience positive changes,
comprehensive education quality is raised and gaps among various areas are being narrowed.
Universalizaton of primary education at right school ages is maintained; universalization of
intermediate eduction achieved its aims ahead the plans. 99.3% of kindergarten teachers, 98.7% of
primary school teachers, 96.8% of secondary school teachers, and 98.9% of high school teachres meet
and/or exceed the required standards. Due attention is made to investments in school infrastructure; it
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 116
is estimated that the rate of reinforced classrooms by 2010 is 83%, two times higher than that of 2005;
the rate of national standard schools in 2010 is estimated to be 32%, 1.8 times higher than that of
2005.
Training scope and professions trained at universities, colleges, and technical secondary schools
develop rapidly; the annual number of new students entering universities and colleges increases by
25% each year, the scope of recruitment in 2010 was 2.2 times higher than that of 2005. Education
and training quality has been being enhanced step by step. Vocational training centers starts to pay
attention to renovation of training contents and methods to aim at meeting the labour market’s
demands. The estimated rate of trained labourers in 2010 was 40%, increasing by 13% compared to
2005.
Health
The rate of clinic units that meet national standards was 83%; the number of children under one year
old injected with 7 types of vaccines was 3,690 out of 3,716 children, making a rate of 99,3%; the
number of pregnant women who were injected two times against tetanus was 3,775 out of 3,0856,
reaching a rate of 97.8 %; the proportion of ill-nourished children unde five years old declined to 14.2%
(reducing by 0.6% compared to the same period). Population and family planning was promoted, the
crude birth rate was 11.37‰ (reducing by 0.3‰ compared to the same period); the natural population
growth rate was 0.67%,... The total turns of non-resident health check and treatment was 84,867 turns
of people, the total days of resident treatment was 64,513 days; the utilization capacity of hospital
beds reached 121%; the total turns of health check and treatment at traditional medicine units were
45,800 turns, the total number of people taking treatment against smoking habits was 4,200 people,
and the total number of people receiving charitable health check was 360 people, in 2010.
d) Economic features
Estimatedly, the average annual economic growth rate in the period 2006-2010 was 11.3%, higher
than that of the previous period - 9.1%. The GDP scale at comperative prices in 2010 was 1.7 times
higher than that of 2005. The average GDP per capita in 2010 reached approximately US$ 810. The
province’s economic structure by agriculture-forestry-fishery, industry-construction, and services was
24.3% - 41.3% - 34.4% respectively. Fishery proportion in the agriculture-forestry-fishery sector
increased from 11.7% to14.1% in five years from 2006 to 2010.
Fishery potential
The province has potential for developing fishery exploitation, aquaculture, support services, and
aquatic product processing comprehensively with 102 km of coastlines and 7 large as well as small
estuaries, of which there are three large estuaries of Lach Truong, Lach Hoi, and Lach Bang, that are
being constructed to be big fishery centers of the province.
The coastal area, with coastlines of 102 km long, has 6 districts and towns in an area of more than
1,230.6 km2, counting for 11.1% of the province’s natural area. The area mobilized 35% investment
funds from the society in five years from 2006 to 2010. Together with the establishment of Nghi Son
economic zone, new economic sectors such as petrochemical and refinement industries, cast iron and
steel refining, thermal electricity. The coastal area consists of 183 communes and wards, of which
there are 27 communes locating in an estuary, 26 estuary communes with a total population of
1,072,464 people, contributing 31.5% to the province’s population. 53 coastal communes and wards
where fishing gears are available has a population of 524,321 people and 106,882 HHs, of which there
are 28,279 poor HHs, making up 26.5% of the total number of coastal HHs. Fishery HHs – 17,901
HHs, of which: exploitation – 16,833 HHs, counting for 94%, aquaculture – 1,068 HHs, counting for
6%. Total labourers working in the fishery sector is 53,590 people, counting for 10.2% of the coastal
population. The number of labourers involving directly in marine exploitation is 28,500 people,
making up 53.2% of fishery labourers and 5.4% of total population of coastal, fishing communes. Of
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 117
these 28,500 people, there are 1,200 captains, counting for 4.2%, 1,100 engine managers, counting
for 3.9 %. Most of exploiting fishery labourers are untrained or only trained for working certificates
without basic and systematic training; most of them work by production experiences. This imposes
many difficulties for occupation change and sustainable development of capture fishery.
Capture fishery
By 31/12/2010, Thanh Hoa had 8,611 fishing boats and ships in total with total capacity of 268,404CV,
the average capacity was 31.2CV per boat/ ship, of which : type < 20CV – 6,740 nrs., counting for
78.3%; type 20 -< 50CV - 601 nrs., counting for 7%; type 50-< 90CV - 510 nrs., counting for 5.9%; type
90CV or higher – 760 nrs., counting for 8.8%. The average capacity of 31.2CV per boat/ ship is lower
than the country’s average capacity (65CV per ship/ boat). The catch output in 2010 reached 74,049
tons, of which marine catch contributed 71,136 tons, (near-shore catch – 51,632 tons, counting for
72.6%, off-shore catch – 19,504 tons, counting for 27.4% of the total output), the inland catch volume
was 2,913 tons.
Single trawl operation (1,234 boats, making up 14.3%), gill net operation (catgut nets with mesh
size a=30 - 60m, 2,530 boats, making up 29.4%), operation with hooks and lines in combination with
stick held falling nets (1,308 boats, counting for 15.2%), lift net operation (872 boats, counting for
10.1%), other catching operations: scoop nets, levering, catching small shrimp,... (2,293 ships,
counting for 26.6% of the total fishing boats) are main fishery operations in Thanh Hoa.
The total reserve is 165,000 tons, of which: offshore – 100,000 tons and near-shore – 65,000 tons. The
catching capacity is 56,000 tons, of which: offshore – 39,000 tons and near-shore – 17,000 tons.
Marine sources in Thanh Hoa seas are diversified in terms of species, yet, the volume of each species
is limited and scattered by small schools.
Aquaculture
It was estimated that the aquaculture area in 2010 was 17,800 ha, increasing 2,300 ha compared to
2005. In 2010, aquaculture volumes reached around 101,400 tons, the production value was about
VND 994 billion, raising by 8.0% in average each year.
The five-year socio-economic development plan 2011-2015 by Thanh Hoa PPC emphasizes:
"Developing both capture fishery and aquaculture towards enhanced efficiency and environment
protection, creating stable sources of input for export processing. Developing aquaculture strongly, by
2015, aquaculture areas should reach over 19,000 ha. Combining harmoniously investments for
improved offshore catching capacity with rational near-shore catching, increasing catching volumes to
around 74,000 tons in 2015; fishery production value increases by about 9% per year, in average.
Developing the coastal areas to be an active economic zone, a leading source of growth and shifting of
the economic structure of the province and the central-northern region. Speeding up construction
progress of Nghi Son economic zone and big industrial projects such as : petrochemical and oil
refinement, thermo-electricity, steel refining, cement, ship repairing and manufacture, processing
industries for agricultural, fishery, and forestry products, etc. Completing harbour facilities, landing
areas for boats and ships in integration with fishery urban areas in Lach Hoi, Lach Bang, Lach
Truong, and Lach Ghep, constructing Nghi Son deep-water sea port and coastal roads, etc. ”
3.1.2 Khanh Hoa Province
a) Natural conditions
Geographic location
Khanh Hoa is a coastal province in the central-southern region, bordering Phu Yen province to the
nother, Ninh Thuan province to the south, Dak Lack and Lam Dong provinces to the west, and the
East Sea to the east. Hon Doi cliff on the Hon Gom peninsula in Van Ninh district is the easternmost
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tip of Vietnam’s main land. The natural land area of Khanh Hoa province, including inland area and
more than 200 islands and archipelagos, is 5,197 km2. The coastline is 385 km long with bays,
lagoons, islands, and a large sea area. Khanh Hoa has 36 coastal communes and wards belong to 3
districts, 1 town, and 1 city.
b) Social demography
Population:
By 2010, the population of Khanh Hoa province was 1,170,300 people, the percentage of rural
population was 60.3%. The provincial population density was 222 persons/km2. The female rate in
Khanh Hoa is 50.5%. There are 32 ethnicities living in the province, of which the Kinh constitues
95.5%.
c) Infrastructure
Transportation
Khanh Hoa province has a diversified transport network with all four types of transport: air lines,
railways, roads, and water ways. Particularly, the province has Van Phong international port which is
very favorable condition for cooperation and exchanges with other localities in the country as well as
in the region.
Industry
The industry sector of Khanh Hoa province develops quite comprehensively with high economic
efficiency. Khanh Hoa is one of 10 provinces/ cities that have rapid growth rate in terms of industry in
the country. Construction – industry production value in 2010 was VND 22,008 billion, increasing by
15%, of which the industry production value only reached VND 15,398 billion, increasing by 10%
and estimatedly, the foreign-invested industry gained VND 3,500 billion, increasing by 14.2%.
Education
In the whole province, there are 161 kindergartens, 188 primary schools, 101 secondary schools, 32
high schools, 9 continueing education centers, and 5 colleges and technical secondary schools.
Health
In the whole province, there are 169 health centers, 13 hospitals, 16 regional surgeries, and 140 clinic
stations at communes, wards, and towns. The doctor proportion is 6.4 doctors per ten thousand of
people, 75% clinic stations have doctors.
Water
Currently, the province has 5 water treatment plants with the total capacity of 66.500m3 per day
providing water for Nha Trang and Cam Ranh cities, Ninh Hoa and Van Gia towns, etc. In the past
years, the Center of Domestic Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation, together with the local
people and several organizations, has constructed around 50 centralized water treatment stations,
supplied water to 77% of rural population with a norm of 50-70 litres per person.
Telecommunications
In the past years, the telecommunications system of Khanh Hoa province has developed dramatically
in terms of both quantity and quality, meeting well demands for local and international
communications. The province has 1 center post office, 9 district post offices, 53 zone post offices, 87
communal post offices and cultural sites. Telephone density reaches 67.1 phones per 100 people. The
percentage of people using internet services is 29.4%.
c) Economic features
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The province’s GDP in 2009 was VND 11,099 billion, at the comparison costs of the year 1994,
contributing 22.68% to the GDP of the central-southern coastal area. The province’s GDP growth rate
was 10.85% in five years 2006-2010, of which the growth rate of the agriculture, fishery, and forestry
sector was 3.5%. The province’s economic structures by zones I, II, and III in 2010 were 13.58% 42.23% - 44.19% respectively.
Capture fishery
Fish catching is strength of Khanh Hoa province. In the whole province, there are more than 10,100
ships and motorized boats; of which nearly 600 ships and boats have capacities of 100CV or stronger
that can operate for a long time in seas. Khanh Hoa province ranks fourth in the country with the
export turnover in 2010 reached US$ 327 million. To marine fishery, most of boats have small
capacities; fishing gears are simple, marine facilities in ships and boats are inadequate,
incomprehensive, mechanization skill is low. The catch volume in 2010 was 76,400 tons. Although
investments have been provided for many new facilities, the average yield has reduced from 0.6 ton
per CV to 0.44 ton per CV because the marine resources are exhausting and the catch limit has been
exceeded. Catch seasons: 02 catch seasons in one year, including the South fish season and the
North fish season.
Catching structures always change in line with fluctuation of marine resources. Most of boats operate
with the main gear which has more than one function, for example: luring lift net in charge of lighting
lift net, guard net in charge of lighting lift net, trawl in charge of screen net or gill guard net, etc.
Table 20: Categorization of boats (2009)
No.
Total
Fishing boats by main operations
Fishing boats
no. of
Remark
by capacity
Gilling
Pursuing
Trawling
Lining
Others
boats
1
<90CV
2
From 90
<250CV
to
3
From 250
< 400CV
to
4
>=400CV
9306
1063
948
883
645
5767
563
128
26
106
263
40
134
20
8
41
60
5
995
5812
27
27
Total
8721
1211
982
1030
Other
operations:
massive
catching
with
extremely
highcapacity
lights, light
fishing,
fishery
services
Source: The province’s statistic data
Aquaculture
Khanh Hoa is the center of aquatic seed production in the central region. Seed production remains
dominant for tiger shrimp and white leg shrimp. In addition, other seeds are also provided such as
sweet snails, sea fish, geoduck clam, crabs, holothurians, etc. Khanh Hoa meets demands for aquatic
seeds in the province and western as well as northen provinces, for example: Ca Mau, Ben Tre, Kien
Giang, Quang Binh, Nam Dinh, Quang Ninh, etc.
Khanh Hoa has five aquaculture areas for commercial production, namely: Van Ninh, Ninh Hoa, Nha
Trang, Cam Lam, and Cam Ranh. White-leg shrimp and tiger shrimp are the main culture species. The
total commercial shrimp farming area in the whole province is around 3,176 ha, of which white-leg
shrimp farming areas count for approximately 80 – 90%, there are only limited tiger shrimp farming
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areas in Ninh Hoa. Khanh Hoa has more than 300 fishing ponds farming groupers and seabass, and
hundreds of hectares of mollusk farming (sweet snails, geoduck clams), etc. Concerning marine
aquaculture: tiger shrimp and sea fish are the main culture species, focusing in four main farming
areas: Van Ninh, Ninh Hoa, Nha Trang, and Cam Ranh. In the recent years, sweet shellfish cultured in
cages has also developed strongly in terms of farming density and areas. Moreover, there are some
commercial marine species cultured, such as: green clams, geoduck clams, pearl oysters, crabs,
holothurians, sea weed, etc. The aquaculture production was 14,900 tons in 2010.
The consolidated report on socio-economic development master plan for Khanh Hoa province to 2020
by the PPC highlights: “Developing the fishery sector to become a strong economic sector of the
province, aiming at commodity production, and becoming the leading sector in the industry sector.
Promoting capture fishery, aquaculture, processing fishery, and fishery services, increasing export of
marine and aquatic products that will contribute significantly to changing agricultural and rural
economic structure. Developing fishery in close relation with poverty reduction, increase in earnings
of the near-shore population, the agriculture sector, as well as in rural areas, maintaining sea and
island security, protecting sea ecoenvironment.”
3.1.3 Soc Trang Province
a) Natural conditions
Geographic location
Soc Trang is a coastal province belonging to the Mekong delta, locating along the right bank of the
Hau river and in the transport axis that connects Ca Mau and Bac Lieu with Ho Chi Minh city, 240
km far from Ho Chi Minh city. Soc Trang has a relatively flat terrain. Most of the province’s
territory is inland. The small part between two branches of the Hau river is an isle with an area of
hundreds of square kilometers. The province’s terrain is hollow with the average level from 0.5 to
1.0 compared to the sea level. The slope comes from three directions, including the Hau river, the
East Sea, and Quan Lo canal, then the terrain lowers towards the center. Because of the hollow
terrain, drainage is difficult in the lowest area in the south of My Tu and Thanh Tri districts, hence,
long-lasting flooding. Soc Trang locates in the tropical region which is under impact of monsoons.
Every year, there are two clearly different seasons with the rainy season from May to October, and the
dry season from November to April. The average annual temperature is 26.80C, and there are few
storms and floods.
b) Social demography
According to results of the overall population survey conducted on 1 April 2009, Soc Trang province
has 1,289,441 people. The total number of labourers is 793,979 people, counting for 61.6% of the
population, of which the number of untrained labourers and technical workers with certificates is
605,727 people, counting for 76.3%; the number of trained labourers is 188,252 people, counting for
23.71%, including:

Labourers with short-term vocational certificates: 149,271 people, making up
18.8%

Labourers with long-term vocational certificates: 396 people, making up 0.1%

Technical secondary schools: 21,913 people, making up 2.8%

Colleges: 5,160 people, making up 0.7%

University or higher education: 11,512 people, making up 1.5%
Minor ethnicity and gender
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In the province, there are three main peoples with the Kinh people as the most crowded people,
constituting 64.83% of the population; the Khmer constitutes 29.21%; the Hoa constitutes 5.93%; and
other ethnic minorities constitute 0.02%. The Khmer people live mainly in Vinh Chau district with
86.571 people, counting for 21.0%; My Xuyen: 83,692 people, counting for 21.0%; and the remaining
live spreadly in Long Phu district, Chau Thanh district, Soc Trang city, Thanh Tri, and My Tu.
The proportion of female labourers increased absolutely, but only constituted 44.0% of the workforce
in the period 2005-2009. In comparison with male workforce, female laboureres equal to 77.0% in
agriculture and aquaculture, 117.0% in processing industry, 119.0% in wholesale and retail, 296.0% in
accommodation and food services, 98.0% in education, 123.0% in health, 34.0% in unions, the Party,
and various authorities, 718.0% of hired labourers for housework, and 6.0% in construction (Source:
Yearly Statistic Book of Soc Trang province, 2009).
c) Infrastructure
Education
The education sector in Soc Trang province has been paid attention to. Although the number of
schools in the period 2006-2009 declined from 169 to 145 schools but the scope and quality have been
strengthened considerably. The number of classes in this period increased from 1190 to 1339 classes,
and the number of teachers also raised drastically from 906 to 1337 people. Besides, the number of
pupils and students rose stably every year in the period 2006-2009 with increases from 30.4 to 35.9
thousand of pupils and from 1470 to 2989 students respectively (Source: Yearly Statistic Book of Soc
Trang province, 2009).
Health
Material facilities for health services of Soc Trang have been improved remarkably, the number of
hospitals and health stations have raised significantly, from 1846 to 2561 units in the period 20062009. In addition, the number as well as quality of health staff also increase. In the period 2006-2009,
the number of doctors rose from 461 to 505 doctors, the number of physicians with intermediate
certificates increased from 511 to 589 physicians, and the number of nurses rose by 20% in this
period, from 447 to 534 nurses (Source: YSB of Soc Trang province, 2009).
Transportation
Main transportation structure of Soc Trang province includes roads and waterways. Soc Trang has a
quite convenient road system with some important roads passing through, such as the national
highway 1A, and the national road 60. Waterways: Soc Trang has 72 km long coastline that borders
the East sea and the downstream of the Hau river (the section from Can Tho province to Dinh An and
Tran De seaports), and channels and canals that connect to the Hau river and create a favorable
waterway network. Soc Trang has three large estuaries, namely Dinh An, Tran De, and My Thanh,
that form a large catchment that is very convenient for transportation. The province also has Tran De
port with a loading capacity of 240,000 tons of goods per year.
Power supply
Since 2000, 100% rural communes in Soc Trang province has had access to medium voltage power
lines. At residential centers, the grid provides sufficient electricity for industrial - small-scale industrial
production demands. The percentage of households that use the grid power increased rapidly from
64.6% in 2002 to 95.8% in 2008, and the percentage of households that use oil lamps reduced
respectively from 31.1% to 3.8%. (Source: Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2008).
Water supply
The water supply system in Soc Trang city has a capacity of approximately 20,000 m3/d. District
towns have improved the water supply networks that meet productive and daily demands. In recent
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years, many water supply projects have been invested in remote communes of the province with tens
of households as the project beneficiaries.
Telecommunications
Soc Trang provincial post office has 146 branch post offices and agents, of which 44 branch post
offices that meet required standards. Such services as sending flowers, EMS, and express services of
money transfer are also exploited at post offices. The provincial communication systems have
integrated into national and international networks. All communes have post officies and culture
houses.
Industrial zones
Soc Trang has An Nghiep industrial zone with a total area of 251 ha. This industrial zone borders the
National highway 1A at the west, the by-pass of the National highway 60, the The 25 channel at the
north, the 30/4 channel at the east, and is 4 km far from the provincial center.
d) Economic features
Soc Trang province has a relatively high economic growth rate, over 10% in the period 2006-2010.
GDP per capital increased 187% in these years. Development of industry and construction has been
recovered and raised 14.2% in 2010 after the year 2009 when the whole country suffered from
economic recession. Service weighting has risen considerably from 24.7% to 31.4% and agriculture
weighting has declined from 54.4% to 50.8% over five years (2006-2010). With the total area of 334.6
thousand of hectares, rice yield raised from 1,602 thousand of tons in 2006 to 1,780 thousands of tons
in 2009. Aquaculture yield value in 2009 was VND 8,548 billion, of which 87.8% came from
aquaculture, and 12.12 % came from exploitation. (Source: Yearly Statistic Book of Soc Trang
province, 2009)
Table 21: Some macro-economic targets in the period 2006-2010
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
1. GDP growth rate (%)
12.86
13.46
10.23
10.14
10.00
2. Average GDP per capita (USD):
532
674
850
881
1000
23.80
10.32
7.88
14.19
4.
Economic
structure:
Industry
Construction
(%) 20.89
Agriculture – Forestry – Fishery (%) 54.42
Services (%)
24.69
19.87
54.28
25.85
17.5
56.47
26.38
16.91
54.50
28.59
17.83
50.77
31.40
5. Total export turnover (US$ million)
362.77
336.04
338.67
370.00
Target
3. Growth rate of the construction – 14.51
industry sector (%)
333.08
Source: The province’s statistic data
The province’s fishery potential
Soc Trang province has a great potential of aquaculture, for example, culturing brackish shrimp,
catfish, near-shore mollusk (clam, artemia), and capture fishery, including near-shore and offshore
catching. The province has three coastal districts, namely: Tran De, Vinh Chau, and Cu Lao Dung
with 72km long coastline and 52,238 ha of near-shore alluvial grounds that are important aquaculture
and catching areas of the province. Fishery is the key sector of the province with the total fishing and
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aquaculture output of 164,000 tons, and the fishery export value reaches US$ 382 million out of US$
421 million of the province’s total export turnover.
Aquaculture
The aquaculture area in the whole province in 2010:
- Area of brackish shrimp farming: 48,300 ha, including tiger shrimp and white-leg shrimp, of
which 22,300ha was for improved extensive cultivation and 25.600ha for industry – semiindustry farming.
- Catfish farming area: 1,200 ha
- Mollusk (clam, artimia) farming area: 15,000 ha
- A clam ground of 18km in length along the coastline in Vinh Chau district
Capture fishery
According to the province’s statistic data, at the moment, in the whole province there are 1,054 fishing
boats of various types, of which there are 248 offshore fishing boats (constituting 23.5%) (capacity >
90CV) and 488 near-shore fishing boats (46.3%) (capacity <90CV), the remaining is river fishing
boats. Most of offshore fishing boats come from Tran De district. Capture fishery activities in Soc
Trang province concentrate on 3 water areas: the sea, estuary tidal areas, and inland water bodies. The
fishing output in 2009 of the province was 38,247 tons.
Poverty
Income differences between 20% of the richest group and 20% of the poorest group is increasing
slightly: 7.2 times in 2006 and 7.3 times in 2008, equal to the average level of the Mekong delta - 7.3
times in 2008. Among various ethnicities living in Soc Trang, the Kh’mer has the highest poverty rate.
According to the survey result, the number of quite rich and rich Kh’mer HHs was 7,379 HHs,
constituting 10.82%; average HHs: 31,534 HHs, counting for 46.26%; poor HHs: 29,625 HHs,
constituting 42.92%. The rate of Kh’mer poor HHs was 42.9%, of which many households could not
meet their basic demands. The poorest district is Vinh Chau (52.09%), then My Tu (36.95%). Main
reasons of poverty are: lack of production capital (79.86%), lack of productive land (11.27%), lack of
jobs (1.91%), abilities of acquiring and practising tehniques and sciences are still limited, and land
transaction still occurs. The Hoa concentrates in Vinh Chau district with 29,068 people (44.0%), Soc
Trang city 17,276 people (26.0%) (Source: Yearly Statistic Book of Soc Trang province, 2009).
3.2 Socio-Economic Information of the Surveyed Project Communes
3.2.1 Ngu Loc commune, Hau Loc district, Thanh Hoa province
a) Natural conditions
Geographic location: Ngu Loc is a poor coastal commune, bordering Da Loc commune to the
north, Hung Loc commune to the west, and Minh Loc commune to the south. The natural area of
Ngu Loc is 93.4 ha of which there is no agricultural land. The residential land area is 37.6 ha.
b) Social demography
Population and population features: The population is 16,828 people, the total number of HHs
in the commune is 3,179 HHs, the number of labourers is 8,490 people, of which there are more
female labourers than male labourers : 4,330 vs. 4,160. Main occupations in this commune are
aquatic exploitation, logistic services, and processing.
c) Infrastructure
Transportation: Provincial roads to the commune and car roads to the commune center.
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Electricity: 100% of HHs access to the national grids
Schools: The commune has reinforced multi-storeyed schools from kindergarten to secondaryschool levels, yet, 14 classrooms in some schools are one-storeyed, brick rooms.
Health stations: The commune’s health station is a one-storeyed house with 20 rooms and 12
beds.
Communications: 1,537 telephones, 3,445 mobile phones, and 309 walkie-talkies for offshore
fishing.
Markets: reinforced built, open everyday.
d) Economic features
The total product value in 2010 was VND 12.5 billion. Fishing made up 68% of the total product
value and commerce, services, and small-scaled industries made up 32.0%.
Fishing: At present, there are 309 fishing boats in the whole commune, of which: type < 20CV – 11
nrs., counting for 3.6%; type 20 - < 90CV - 188 nrs., counting for 60.8%; type > 90CV - 110 nrs.,
counting for 35.6% of the total fishing boats; with the capture structure as follows: hooking in
combination with cast net with 4 booms - 109 boats, shrimp trawls - 189 boats, and near-shore gill net
– 11 boats. There are 2,250 fishermen none of them are females. The catching volume in 2010 was
6,730 tons, of which near-shore catching contributed 75.0%. The near-shore catching volume raised
by 120% from 2008 to 2010, meanwhile the offshore catching volume increased respectively. The
number of boats increased 117.0% in these years. The catching value in 2010 was VND 85 billion.
The main fishing ground is the near-shore sea area surrounding Hon Ne island to Lach Ghep estuary
for trawlers, and other fishing boats operate mainly in fishing grounds of the Tonkin Gulf and the
surrounding provinces. The commune’s shrimp trawling usually stealthy use small-mesh nets,
together with electrical impulse, that exploits destructively fishing resources and make these sources
getting exhausted. There are 200 boats operating near shores, providing unstable earnings of VND 1 –
2 million per month per person. Near-shore fishing attracts 1,150 labourers most of that have limited
education attainment, of which : 76 people have high-school certificates, counting for 6.6%, 435
people have secondary-school certificates, counting for 37.8%, 639 people have primary-school
certificates, counting for 55.6%. Almost all of them do not know what to do apart from marine
catching, most of households do not have productive land, therefore, they do such things as flaying
shrimps in harvest time, fishery processing for small premises, trading, freelancers, etc. with wages of
VND 20,000 – 70,000 per day.
Poverty: There were 934 poor HHs in total, counting for 29.4% of the total households (2010).
3.2.2 Hai Ninh commune, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province
a) Natural conditions
This is a coastal commune, bordering Hai Chau commune to the north, Hai An commune to the west,
and Thanh Thuy commune to the south. The natural land area is 614. ha; the commune locates in an
estuary, very poor. The land area for annual plants and crops is 155.8 ha, including 67.5 ha of rice and
the remaining area is for crops. The area of aquaculture land is 41.5 ha and the area of coastal water
bodies, including lagoons, is 60.0 ha. Vacant and wild land: 51.4 ha. There are 9 villages: 3
agricultural villages, and 6 fishery villages.
b) Social demography
There are 3,117 HHs in total with a population of 12,151 people, 8,506 peopel are in working age.
Female labourers count for 46.0%. The total number of poor HHs is 1,436 HHs, counting for 44.9%
of the total HHs in the commune, of which 955 poor HHs live in fishery villages and their livelihood
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activities depend on aquatic exploitation. Hai Ninh commune has 340 widows as single mothers.
There are no ethnic minority people living in the commune.
c) Infrastructure
Transport: The provincial road runs through the commune.
Electricity: 99.6% HHs have access to the national grid
Schools: 30 classrooms of primary and secondary schools are at reinforced, multi-storeyed
schools. There are 12 brick, one-storeyed classrooms for kindergarten.
Health station: 12 reinforced, multi-storeyed rooms.
Communications: 1,620 telephones, 1,250 mobile phonds, and 16 walkie-talkies for fishing
boats.
Market: Temporary markets, open everyday
d) Economic features
There are 1,225 agricultural households with 2,818 labourers, of which female labourers contribute
54.0%. Annual rice yield : 486 tons per 135 ha of cultivating land, peanuts yield : 207 tons per 115 ha,
and potato and sweet potato yield: 610 tons per 61 ha. The raising outputs in 2010 were 820 cows and
buffalos, 7,860 pigs, and 20,000 poultry.
At present, there are 586 fishing boats in the whole commune, of which: type < 20CV - 459 nrs.,
making up 78.3%; type from 20CV - < 90CV : 124 nrs., making up 21.2%; type > 90CV - 3 nrs.,
making up 0.5% of the total number of fishing boats; and the fishing structure as follows: lift net
catching of shellfish and crabs - 33 boats, trawl fishing - 89 boats, and gill net fishing (catgut nets and
latch nets) - 464 boats. Fishing activities occur mainly in near-shore areas of the district and the
adjacent districts. The capture output in 2010 was 3,256 tons, of which 37.2% came from near-shore
fishing and 60.1 in-shore lines, and 89 tons – not a significant amount - derived from offshore fishing.
99.5% fishing boats operate near-shore, marine fishing attracts 1,850 labourers and provides an
earning of VND 0.8 – 1.5 million per month per person. Fishing labourers have limited education
attainment, of which: 120 people have high-school certificates, counting for 6.5%, 647 people have
secondary-school certificates, counting for 35%, 1,083 people have primary-school certificates,
counting for 58.5% of the total of near-shore fishing labourers. Apart from marine catching, the
households do other work such as animal and poutry raising, fish sauce processing, etc. to increase
their incomes. Only five households operate in aquaculture with 8 ha of extensive famring and the
outputs of 16 tons per year. With more than 4.5 km coastal lines and beautiful beaches that have great
potential of tourism development, the near-shore fishermen can sell fresh products to tourists. This is
an advantage that should be taken. The potential areas of more than 100 ha of water bodies in Thanh
Binh bay and along coastal land can be improved for clam famring, meeting fishermen’s demands for
occupation changes.
3.2.3 Ninh Loc commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province
a) Natural conditions
Geographic location
Ninh Loc commune has a flat terrain that is intermigled with hills and mountains. The commune’s
total area is 2,945 ha, counting for about 2.46% of Ninh Hoa town’s area. Ninh Loc locates at the
south-eastern part of Ninh Hoa town, 7km far from the center of Ninh Hoa town by the national
highway No. 1A. Ninh Loc is a coastal, flat commune, 6km far from the center of Ninh Hoa town
towards the south. Ninh Loc enjoys all three land features: forests, flat land, and sea; has the provincial
road No. 5, the national highway No. 1A, and the country North-South railway passing the commune
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for 3km; therefore, it is very favorable for developing agriculture – forestry – fishery and expanding
services.
b) Social demography
The commune’s population is 9,931 people, corresponding to 1,949 households. Most of the
population is the Kinh. The commune’s average population density in 2010 was 317.98 persons per
square kilimeter. Ninh Loc has a relatively high population density. The population allocates quite
even in the commune, yet, people live more densely at the commune centers and transport axis. There
are no ethnic minority people living in the commune.
c) Infrastructure
Education
By end 2009, the commune met the national target of univerlization of primary education for children
at the right age, univerilsation of intermediate and secondary education reached only about 90%. At
present, the education system in the commune includes only 01 kindergarten with 6 branches, 01
primary school with 5 branches, 01 secondary school, and 1 high school. Because of inconvenient
travelling due to unfavorable terrain, many school branches have to be established to facilite education
and training. The number of primary-school pupils is 807 pupils.
Health
The commune’s health station locating in the national road No. 1A has been recognized as a national
standard one. The health station has 10 beds and the staff include 01 doctor, 01 physician, 01
pharmacist, and 02 mid-wives. The rate of people registed various types of medical insurance reaches
35.4%.
Transportation
The main road of the transport system of Ninh Loc commune is the national road 1A. The NorthSouth railway passes and the provincial road runs through Ninh Tan commune. In addition, the system
has inter-commune and inter-village roads that are under completion.
Electricity
The electricity system for domestic and production purposes is managed, operated and maintained by
Ninh Hoa power sector. At present, in the commune, there are 10 transformer stations of which all
meet the required standards. 1,854 households get direct access to the national grid. Electricity
demands for production are fully met (100%).
d) Economic features
The natural area is 2,945ha, of which agricultural land - 497ha, aquaculture area - 457ha, and forestry
- 763ha. This locality mainly cultivates rice and culture aquaculture, some households orient towards
house garden, hill gardens, and small trade for their economic development. In 2009, the cultivation
area was 686 ha. The average annual total food yield is more than 2,593 tons per year. The
average food per capita is 350kg/person/year.
Fishery potential
Ninh Loc has 3 coastal communes with near-shore capture fishery and aquaculture as main
occupations. Near-sea water bodies in Ninh Loc provide many favorable conditions for fishing
and culturing valuable fishery resources such as: codfish, grouper, seabass, lobster, tiger shrimp,
etc. Most of near-sea water bodies is brine and brackish water that is suitable for aquaculture.
Aquaculture
Ninh Loc commune has a relatively large area of brine aquaculture, the whole commune has
493.33 ha of aquaculture with high economic efficiency. The average productivity is 70kg per
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 127
hectare, the average output is around 327 tons, and the average earnings is about VND 197
billion. Hence, the average aquaculture production value is VND 40 million per year.
Capture fishery
In the recent years, the commune’s catch has been low because the near-shore fishery resources
have been exhausted since fishermen have used dynamite devices and drag-nets in fishing, not
improved fishing facilities, sources of investments in improving high-capacity boats encounter
many difficulties, and occupation changes remain slow. There are 141 boats in the whole
commune. The catch reached 405 tons in 2010. Aquaculture also does not reach high efficiency
because water is polluted, disease outbreaks happen frequently in shrimp farming that cause
losses to the local people, and the ability of re-investment is low. Averagely, the culture area is
300 ha and the average output is 300 tons. In 2010, shrimp culture seemed to be better than previous
years, shrimp prices increased, hence, farmers got quite high earnings, the aquaculture yield was 455
tons. The total output of capture fishery and aquaculture in 2010 was 860 tons. (According to socioeconomic report 2010 by Ninh Loc CPC).
Tam Ich village – the key fishing village of the commune – has nearly 200 boats, 48 petrol boats, and
2 D8 junks. 100 households catch fish with bamboo traps - destructive gear that catch even small
shrimp and crab.
Poverty
At present, 35% households of the commune are rich or quite rich HHs; the number of poor HHs
(according to the former poverty line) has reduced by 30%, there is no hungry households; 98% HHs
have televisons and/ or radios, 100% HHs use electricity, 95% HHs use clean water. The commune
has completed erasion of bamboo houses. According to results of poor and quasi-poor household
survey 2011-2015, the commune has 168 poor HHs (based on the new standard poverty line),
counting for 8.62% HHs of the whole commune, and 331 quasi-poor HHs.
3.2.4 Ninh Van commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province
a) Natural conditions
Geographic location
Ninh Van is an island commune of Ninh Hoa town, it is approximately 80 km by roads and 12 sea
miles by seaway towards the southern-east from the center of the town to this commune. Ninh Van
borders the East Sea to the east, Nha Phu lagoon to the southern-west, the East Sea to the south, and
Ninh Phuoc commune to the west. Ninh Van is a peninsula commune with mountains as the main
feature of its terrain. Ninh Van is divided by mountains lowering from the west to the south, bordering
high mountains is low mountains that lower to the northern-east.
b) Social demography
Ninh Van is a small commune in population terms with only 405 HHs and 1,785 people, 912
labourers that make up 50.53% of the commune’s total population. Ninh Van is a poor commune with
extreme difficulties. There are no ethnic minority people living in the commune.
c) Infrastructure
Education
The commune has been recognized for its success in illiteracy erasion, universalization of primary and
intermediate education at right ages, the percentage of pupils graduating secondary schools and
entering high schools and continueing education centers of the province as well as of Ninh Hoa town
is around 70%. The percentage of trained labourers is quite low, only about 10%. Most of labourers
get training on agriculture, forestry, and breeding with short, simple, and pratice-oriented training
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 128
courses. In the commune, there is one kindergarten with 125 children, one primary school with 170
pupils, and one secondary school with 121 pupils. Generally, the commune’s schools have not met
local demands. Therefore, in the coming time, Ninh Van needs to provide more investments in
schools so that their schools can meet the required standards.
Health
The commune’s health station has 10 beds and 12 rooms, including both treatment and function
rooms. The health staff include 1 physician, 1 nurse, 1 pharmacist, and 2 mid-wives. The rate of
people registed various types of medical insurance reaches 60%, however, according to the local
people, the efficiency of medical insurance is not high.
Transportation
Since the commune locates in an island, roads leading to the commune are quite difficult and transport
density is not so high, hence, not much maintenance cost. What costs most is capital for new
construction. Ninh Van commune is connected to Ninh Phuoc and Ninh Tinh communes by the
provincial road No. 1B of 37km length. Apart from the commune main road, there are inter-village
and inter-hamlet roads.
Electricity
The commune use the national grid managed by Ninh Hoa power sector. At present, 94.97% HHs
have access to electricity (still missing 3.03% compared to the target). At present, in the commune,
there are 3km of low voltage line and 2 transformer stations in the West and the East hamlets. The
current electricity source does not meet local demands for agricultural production, the people usually
have to use generators in production. Therefore, to meet the criterion No. 4, Ninh Van commune
needs to supplement 6km of low voltage line and 1 transformer station to ensure power supply for
domestic and production activities.
d) Economic features
The commune’s natural land area: 4,521 ha. Land of perennial – 53.4ha, forests – 801.9ha, and unused
land – 3,407.5 ha. The cultivative land area is 100.70ha, of which: annual plants – 47.26 ha; perennial
– 53.44ha, aquaculture land – 73.8ha. Most of cultivated plants are short-day crops such as onions,
garlics, fragant khotweed, etc. Garlic cultivation is started by the Quang Ngai people who come to
purchase/ hire land for production, then, the local people follow. The garlic and onion output is 160
tons per year. Most of perennial is mango and coconut trees. Cashew trees are planted in mixing in
mountain fields. The commune has 230 agricultural HHs, 830 agricultural labourers. 25-30% HHs do
not have productive land. Breeding is quite developed in Ninh Van with 1,464 cows and 76 goats
because of large forest areas, unbridled breeding is popular.
The commune has about 100 out of 912 labourers work in other localities, 205 people working in the
service and trading sector. Female farmers usually drop off schools after intermediate education.
There are more than 100 young people of that more than 50% work in other localities, about 20 people
have high-school certificates, females have lower education attainment. Pupils have to rent houses
during learning when they enter high schools, hence, some poor pupils have to drop off schools.
The commune’s fishery potential
Like all other island communes in Khanh Hoa province, Ninh Van possesses abundant brine
resources. Aquaculture of high economic value can be cultured in these brine sources.
Capture fishery
The commune has 72 boats, of which there are 4-5 offshore fishing boats of which there is only 1 boat
operating, 40 licienced junks. The commune has 160 fishing households, of which 147 near-shore
fishing HHs, 426 fishermen, more than 200 divers – sea urchin, squid, marine specises – with nets.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 129
The catch output was 400 tons in 2010, of which there were 7,000 young tiger shrimp, 1,700 tons of
sargassum of which the value was VND 6.8 billion. About 30 - 40 good divers come to Quang Ngai to
work oversea under contracts. Diving for sargassum provides an earning of about VND 100,000 per
day.
Poverty
Poor households make up 9.14% (37 HHs with 128 people). Quasi-poor households make up 8.4%
with 34 HHs and 137 people.
3.2.5 Vinh Hai commune, Vinh Chau district, Soc Trang province
a) Natural conditions
Vinh Hai is a coastal commune (to be a district town in the coming time) of Vinh Chau district with
more than 18 km long coastline and My Thanh estuary. The natural land area is 7,844ha, of which the
agricultural land area is approximately 6,226ha.
Table 22: Land use status in the past 3 years
Type of land
1
Total natural land
Of which:
2 Land for annual crops
rice
crops (all year round)
3 Land for perennial trees
4 Forestry land (forests)
5 Aquaculture land
6 Near-sea water bodies (including lagoons)
7 Rural (urban) land
8 Specialized land
9 Vacant land, wild land
10 Others (indicate clearly)
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Area
2008
ha
7.844,8
2009
ha
7.844,8
1.185,49
975
3.025
63,05
2.365,74
2.590
2.612
Coastline - 18km in length
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
770
3.000
2010
ha
7.844,8
1.012
3.179
2.565
na
na
na
na
According to the commune’s statistics, at present, there are more than 1,000 Kh’mer households
without productive land. The commune’s land fund has run out of productive land. In the commune,
there are nearly 600ha productive land of two plantations that has been dissolved. As being reported
by the commune’s leaders, this land area is being hired by many companies but used ineffectively
because of no investments in infrastructure and invasion by many households. If the DPC reclaims
this land and invests in irrigation infrastructure to assign, by contracts, to households that do not have
productive land to use, the difficulties in productive land of more than 1,000 Kh’mer households will
be resolved.
b) Social demography
There are 4,545 HHs with 20,925 people, of which 3,345 HHs work in agriculture with 13,380
labourers. There are three ethnicities living in this commune of which the Kh’mer is dominant with
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 130
2,141 HHs (9,917 people), then the Hoa with 1,222 HHs (5,692 people) and the Kinh with 1,181 HHs
(5,315 people). Buddhism is the main religion of the people in Vinh Hai commune, followed by 1,862
HHs. There are more female labourers than male.
Table 23: Population and labourers (2009)
1
2
3
Total HHs in the commune
Total population in the commune (people)
Total people in the working age (15-60) can work
4.545
20.925
13.754
Male
Female
10.418
6.808
10.507
6.946
Source: The commune’s statistic data
d) Socio-economic development
Main economic activities of the local people in this commune are cultivation, breeding, aquaculture,
and fish catching. Main plants include rice (one crop), purple onions, and water melons. Land factor is
3 crops per year, 1 rice crop per year, and 1 shrimp crop per year.
Cultivation
Because of inavailability of fresh water, rice can be only planted in the rainy season with the average
yield of 5 tons per hectare. Cultivation areas (ha) and yields of the main plants in 2010 were as
follows.
Table 24: Cultivation area 2010
Type of plant
Rice
Purple onions
Area
(ha)
1,000
3,800
Yield
(ton)
5,000
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Breeding
Breeding is not strength of Vinh Hai commune because of lack of land and fresh water. This is also a
difficulty in livelihoood change for households whose earnings derive from near-shore catch. The
breeding output of the commune in 2010 with three main domestic animals:
Table 25: Breeding output of the commune 2010
Type
Cows and buffalos
Pigs
Chicken, ducks, wild geese, geese
Quantity
300 nrs.
1,500 nrs.
24,000 nrs.
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is strength of Vinh Hai commune with more than 4,000ha and more than 1,950 labourers
(of which 975 people are female labourers). In the whole commune in 2010, the industrial farming
area was 1,600ha and the extensive farming area was 800ha. The aquaculture output in 2010 was
3,912 tons. Apart from brine (brackish) shrimp culture, the model of fresh-water shrimp – crop is
being piloted in Vinh Hai. According to some households that are culturing fresh water shrimp,
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 131
because shrimp seeds are selected thoroughly and provided with time for adaptation, the existence rate
and anti-disease ability are higher than brine shrimp. The breeding duration is about 4 months.
However, this model relies entirely on the annual rainfall. After harvesting shrimp, the people improve
land to plant crops, meanwhile, crops cannot be planted on land on which brine (brackish) shrimp is
cultured because land is saline. Therefore, fresh water shrimp farming will increase land use frequency
compared to brackish water shrimp culture.
Capture fishery
Vinh Hai has 6 villages operating in capture fishery with about 3,500 labourers, half of which is
female. Fishing means are small boats of less than 30CV with about 90 boats, of which 14 boats have
capacities less than 20CV, and the smallest boat is 9CV. Main fishing grounds are near-shore grounds,
main fishing gear is traditional gear such as large nets covering beds of water bodies, trawls, hooks
and lines. Hence, fishing is not selective.
The average catch volume is about 400 tons per year (2009). Vinh Hai has an abundant source of seaslug with a catch volume of 100 tons of dried sea-slug per year. In addition, Vinh Hai has a clam
ground spreading along 18km of coastline and 2,365ha of mangroves which provide goby stock. This
is huge natural resources of Vinh Hai, yet, being over-exploited and over control because many people
from other localities also come here for fishing.
Most of near-shore fishing households are poor ones without productive land and limited residential
land and most of them are the Kh’mer. The average net earnings of households derived from catching
is about VND 100,000 per day. Fish catch is viable for only four months in a year, in the rest of the
year, people work as hired labourers in the commune or other communes at a wage of VND 100,000
per day per person. However, these jobs are unstable and hard to find because all laboureres do not
have other skills except traditional fishing.
Aquatic product processing
There is not processing units in the commune, even for preliminary processing. All catches are
collected by fishery traders upon boat landing.
Forestry
Vinh Hai has large mangrove areas which are residences and
reproductive land of many sea species such as clam, crab,
goby, and holothurian. Thanks to mangrove planting, the
raise of land levels and sea encroachment happen rapidly,
averagely 20-50m per year. This is an extremely favorable
condition of Vinh Hai to develop mangroves and provide
jobs for the local people. The community-based forest
management model of the GIZ project funded by Germany is
being piloted in Au Tho B village should be scaled up. In the
first phase (2007-2010), five management teams were
established, each team was led by one monitor. Their tasks
are to propagandize and persuade the people to protect forests and prevent forest exploitation by
strangers. The local people join these teams voluntarily and each member is granted with a “blue card”
that allows him to exploit marine species and other forest products in compliance with exploitation
regulations. Review meetings are held periodically. The project supports the households to build
furnaces for cooking with woods taken from forests and provides team leaders with mobile phones.
3.2.6 An Thach 3 commune, Cu Lao Dung, Soc Trang province
a) Natural conditions
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 132
This is a poor coastal commune, being entitled to the Program 135 of the Government. The
commune’s natural land area is 3,795 ha. There is a car road to the commune center. 94.6% HHs used
electricity from the national grid, the remaining has not had access to electricity because of living far
from the main road. The commune’s land use status is presented in the followingi table.
Table 26: Land use status
Type of land
Total natural land
Of which:
Land for annual crops
rice
crops
Land for perennial trees
Forestry land (forests)
Aquaculture land
Near-sea water bodies (including lagoons)
Rural (urban) land
Specialized land
Vacant land, wild land
Others (indicate clearly)
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Area
2008
ha
3795
2009
ha
3795
2010
ha
3795
2610
15
2595
100
219
285
122
120
160
75
4
2610
15
2595
100
219
285
122
120
160
75
4
2610
15
2595
100
219
285
122
120
160
75
4
b) Population and labourers
The commune’s population in 2009 was 10,735 people with 2,163 HHs, of which 5,904 were in
working age. Two ethnicities live in the commune, including the Kinh and the Kh’mer, of which the
Kinh is dominant. Religions followed by the local people are Catholicism and Cao Đài religion.
Table 27: Population and labourers
Total HHs in the commune
Total population in the commune (people)
Of which: Males
Females
Total people in the working age (15-60) can work
Of which: Males
Females
2009
2.163
10.735
5.367
5.368
5.904
2.952
2.952
Current
2.704
12.426
6.220
6.206
6.834
3.417
3.417
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Table 28: Ethnicity pattern of the commune’s population
Ethnicity
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
No. of HHs
2009
1887
276
Source: The commune’s statistic data
No. of people
Current
2428
276
The Kinh
The Kh’mer
2009
1887
276
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 133
Table 29: Religion
Religion
Catholicism
Cao Đài religion
No. of HHs
2009
112
69
Current
112
69
No.of people
2009
368
457
Current
368
457
Source: The commune’s statistic data
c) Infrastructure
Education
The commune has one kindergarten, 4 primary schools, one secondary school, and one high school.
Numbers of pupils at all levels remain quite stable every school year. School infrastructure is
relatively good thanks to the Government’s Program 135. The average education attainment of the
local people is 9/12. This is an advantage for vocational training for young people.
Table 30: The commune’s schools and classrooms
Kindergarten
Primary education
Intermediate education
Secondary education
No. of school
No. of classroom
No. of pupils
2009
1
4
1
1
2009
17
49
17
11
2009
380
942
554
589
Current
1
4
1
1
Current
17
49
17
11
Current
388
940
562
599
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Table 31: Numbers of pupils in school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
Nursery
Kindergarten
Primary education
Intermediate education
Secondary education
No. of pupils
2009-2010
2010-2011
380
942
554
589
388
940
562
599
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Health
The commune has one health station with 12 rooms and 4 beds. The health station meets the national
standards. Every year, the health station implements satisfactorily extended vaccination programs and
community health care.
d) Economic activities
Cultivation
The number of labourers whose work mainly in agriculture is 2,428 people, of which the number of
female labourers is 1,365 people. The main plants are sugar canes, derris, and rice. Rice is planted for
one crop in the rainy season. Cultivation areas and yields of the main plants in 2010 are as below.
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 134
Table 32: Main plants
Type of plant
Area
(ha)
15
1,600
105
Rice
Sugar cane
Derris
Yield
(ton/year)
75
178,500
6,020
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Breeding
Table 33: Breeding output of the commune in 2010
Type
Cows and buffalos
Pigs
Chicken, ducks, wild geese, geese
Quantity (nr)
545
2,636
10,042
Source: The district’s statistic data
Aquaculture
Cultured aquatic species include shrimp, catfish, snakehead fish, African carp, and clam. The number
of labourers who work mainly in aquaculture in 2010 was 388 people, of which 89 people were
females.
Table 34: Aquaculture areas in the commune in 2010
No. of HHs
Industrial
farming
Fish
of
various types
Shrimp
of 81
various types
Other aquatic
species
Total
81
Aquaculture area (ha)
Extensive
Industrial
farming
farming
85
Output (ton/year)
Extensive
farming
85
13
15
175
10
108
6 tón/ha
10
175
110
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Capture fishery
In the whole commune, there are 97 HHs operating in near-shore catching, of which about 30% HHs
specialized in catching….The number of labourers who mainly work in capture fishery was 487
people 2010, of which there were 98 females. Fishing facilities are small boats of less than 20CV and
fishing gear such as hooks and lines, rake, large nets covering beds of water bodies, weir, and nets.
The average earnings from capture fishery is approximately VND 100,000 per labourer. Catch is
viable in only 7 months per year with about 12-13 days per month. Because of small boats and
handicraft fishing gear, catch is not selective. According to the local people, catch volume reduces
year by year.
Forestry
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 135
In the commune, there is 219 ha of mangroves managed by the forest management board. No HHs
work in forestry as their main occupation. If this forest area is assigned to near-shore fishing HHs for
management under the co-management model, management efficient will be improved and pressure
on near-shore fishing will be reduced.
Non-agricultural occupations
In the whole commune there are 240 HHs working in the business and service sector, most of them do
small business at the commune’s markets, sell drinks, or have groceries. Handicraft is
underdeveloped, there are only two private, small carpenter’s shops for local demands in the
commune.
Table 35: Numbers of HHs and labourers working in non-agricultural sector
Occupation
Carpentry, wood processing
Garment
Services (food, fishery support services,
etc.)
Trading
Fixing of electric and electronic devices
Repairing of motorbikes
No. of HHs
2
20
30
No. of labourers
Total
Males
10
8
86
80
80
Females
2
86
80
179
3
12
673
3
29
673
3
29
673
3
29
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Poverty
The percentage of poor HHs of the commune in 2010 was 22.5%, quasi-poor: 16.9%.
Table 36: Percentage of poor HHs of the commune in 2010
Type of HHs
No. of HHs (% of HHs)
Assessed by the By the national poverty standards
commune
(incomes
<
VND
200,000/
person/month in rural areas; < VND
260,000/person/month in urban areas)
Quasi-poor
459
459
Poor
608
608
Average
1300
Quite rich
300
Rich
37
Source: The commune’s statistic data
Social Assessment Report (SA)
Coastal Resources for Sustainable Development Project
page 136
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