A wreck at Sa Huỳnh fishing port. Abandoned and derelict boats pose significant risks to waterway safety and have environmental impacts on local communities in Quảng Ngãi Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Phước Ngọc

QUẢNG NGÃI — Abandoned and derelict boats pose significant risks to waterway safety and have environmental impacts on local communities in Quảng Ngãi Province.

Dozens of decayed and broken wooden boats, which were once property of local fishermen, worth tens of billions of đồng, are lying on a section from the Thạnh Đức 2 Bridge to Sa Huỳnh fishing port in Phổ Thạnh Ward, Đức Phổ Town.

Nguyễn Sáu, a fisherman from Phổ Thạnh Ward, said the local fishermen had to abandon these boats because they suffered accidents while they went to fish offshore.

Some faced losses in business and were unable to go fishing and find another job, he said.

Talking about this issue, Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Phổ Thạnh Ward Giã Tấn Tàu said the local authorities have worked with relevant units to develop statistics and find the boat owners to ask them to move the boats to other places.

But it is not easy.

"We could only contact six ship owners, the rest were derelict boats. The ship owners sold them to other local fishermen in order to recover some lost capital," said Tàu.

The new ship owners only collected the engines of the boats and left the wrecks, he said. 

"We have not found a solution to solve this problem and could not dismantle these derelict ships because the owners could sue us."

Phổ Thạnh·Ward is one of the localities with the largest number of fishing boats in Đức Phổ Town, with about 1,200 ships. — VNS