Of those fishermen, 24will go back to Vietnam on February 9, just one day before theLunar New Year. They have been detained for between two and threemonths.
Vietnam and Thailand have signed afishery cooperative agreement, under which the two sides will worktogether to prevent and deal with the violation of territorial waters byeach other’s fishing vessels. However, it is difficult to solve theissue thoroughly.
The Vietnamese embassy in Thailand has cooperated with relevant Thai agencies to deal with these cases.
As a result, nearly 500 fishermen imprisoned in Thailand have been sent back home.
Also on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year festival (Tet), 33out of 48 Vietnamese fishermen being detained in West Kalimantanprovince, Indonesia , will be released for family reunions.
Aworking team of the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia has visited thefishermen at Pontianak prison in early February. The officials alsoworked with local authorities to accelerate procedures for the releaseof the fishermen.
According to the provincialDepartment of Marine and Fisheries, 54 Vietnamese fishing vessels havebeen seized with nearly 260 fishermen imprisoned since 2009 due toillegal fishing in the sea area of West Kalimantan.-VNA