Vietnam's foreign ministry announced in early June that China had ordered a fishing ban in some areas of the South China Sea "including those under Vietnam's sovereignty".
The fishermen say they try to avoid the controversial areas but China's stepped-up enforcement has put their incomes at risk, while some of their colleagues have allegedly been detained on Hainan or had their nets and fish seized.
Vietnamese fisherman Huynh Minh On and other fishermen say they have seen an increasing number of the Chinese ships over the past two months in disputed waters around the Paracel archipelago, and near China's Hainan Island.
On, 50, said the monthly earnings of his fishing boat have dropped by about half recently, to around 40 million or 50 million dong 2,222-2,777 dollars.
"It is mainly because of the Chinese," On says, reclining on bags of fishing nets piled beside his boat at the key fishing port of Danang, in central Vietnam.
Boats radio each other "so we can run away" when Chinese enforcement ships are spotted but this eats up time and money, he said.
The ministry said China had increased its patrols and made more arrests in the areas, part of what it calls the East Sea.
"It greatly affects my business," said Nguyen Nuoi, 38. The fisherman said he and his colleagues had experienced a two-thirds drop in income as a result.
"Whenever I see the Chinese ships I just run away," he said, because if his boat is caught in the disputed area, "they will take our gear".
On Thursday a foreign ministry statement reiterated that the ban, running until August 1, is "unacceptable" because it includes areas under Vietnamese sovereignty.
No one from the Chinese embassy in Hanoi could be reached to comment on the issue Thursday.
A long-standing dispute between Vietnam and China over sovereignty of the Paracels and a more southerly archipelago, the Spratleys, has recently escalated.
Fishermen are caught in the middle.
"I don't know how the senior officials divide the sea territory. The only thing we know is that we have been fishing in these areas for many years and now we are banned, and we see the sea territory of Vietnam getting smaller and smaller," said On, a fisherman for 28 years who owns his own boat with a crew of 10.
Another fishing captain, Pham Van Phuoc, 44, said he had seen this year an increasing number of Chinese patrol boats, which enforce their ban by raising white flags whenever Vietnamese vessels are deemed to be encroaching.
Although the banned areas are home to a higher concentration of fish, Phuoc said he tries to avoid them. There is no point trying to outrun the Chinese, he said, because their ships are bigger and faster than the wooden Vietnamese fishing boats.
The Chinese ships are also armed with deck guns and the crews have rifles, Vietnamese fishermen say.
"I think now that the fishermen are more careful than before," he said.
Glastonbury Festival in England on June 25.REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
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