HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) will propose a new project to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in connection with the recent fish deaths in four central provinces.

Under the project, vocational training and jobs will be provided to hundreds of thousands of labourers affected directly and indirectly by the mass fish deaths.

MoLISA Minister Đào Ngọc Dung made the statement yesterday while working with local authorities in central Quảng Trị Province, one of the four provinces suffering huge losses following the fish deaths in April. The other provinces that are affected are Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình and Thừa Thiên-Huế.

The natural disaster reportedly washed up more than 100 tonnes of fish ashore, disrupting the life of the locals with fish sales, tourism and other seafood-related services being severely hit.

Nguyễn Văn Hùng, Party Secretary of Quảng Trị Province, said more than 7,000 workers in 16 coastal communes in the province lost their jobs in the months after the fish deaths.

The local authorities expect the government to help female workers, who worked as fish sellers or made fish sauce and salt, to be trained in sewing. The province currently has three sewing industrial factories that can hire workers, he said.

It is also expected that the fishermen will be given loans and land for cultivation and taught science and technology methods to be used in planting and breeding.

The local authorities also proposed MoLISA assign higher number of workers to go abroad to enable local fishermen to go overseas.

The minister said the MoLISA would create conditions for fishermen to work overseas in Japan and South Korea and would train workers before they go abroad. However, these conditions will be limited to those districts in Quảng Trị Province which have a high number of illegal workers in South Korea.

The ministry will order specilised agencies, such as the National Co-ordination Office on Poverty Reduction, the General Directorate of Vocational Training and MoLISA’s Finance and Planning Department, to study specific measures for vocational training and job creation projects, he said. — VNS