The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is selecting about 3,000 boats for free installation of satellite equipment.

The equipment will help the boats to receive early warning about storms and bad weather.

Priority will be given to boats with a capacity of at least 90 CV, and also those which play a role in rescue operations at sea.

The installation process will take place this year on boats from 28 coastal areas. This is part of a larger project, called Movimar, aimed at monitoring Vietnam’s marine resources. The project has a total investment of EUR14.5 million (USD20.3 million), and is funded by the French government.

By mid-2010, Vietnam had around 131,000 fishing boat, of these, 16,000 were categorised as high capacity.

According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, there were around 40 serious maritime accidents last year. One reason is that many of these boats are aging and lack any type of warning equipment for storms.