The Vietnam Syndicate for Workers in Fisheries represents over 17,000 syndicate members and 500,000 fishers across Vietnam. Established by the National Union of Agriculture and Rural Development Workers, VSWF’s mission is to protect fish workers’ rights and influence the development of policies to secure their livelihoods. The syndicate also plays an important role in communicating legal regulations to its membership to facilitate compliance and coordinating research to inform fisheries regulations and improve fishers’ working conditions.

With support from the TBT Coalition Grants Programme, VSFW is launching a project to drive a just transition away from bottom trawling in the Tonkin Gulf. Working with syndicate members in three coastal communities, VSFW will conduct a baseline assessment of bottom trawling’s extent and impacts, including levels of bycatch, plastic pollution, livelihood impacts and the prevalence of illegal trawling.

VSFW will then organise local workshops to share the results with communities and co-develop policy recommendations to bring an end to bottom trawling in the Gulf. After this, they will mobilise the syndicate’s membership to call on policymakers to implement their recommendations