Quang Nam (VNA) - The Centre for Fishing Vessel Registration and Port Management in Quang Nam province has implemented the electronic catch documentation and traceability system (eCDT) for 100% of local fishing vessels which are 15 metres or longer, according to Vo Van Long, head of the provincial Sub-Department of Fisheries.

All fishing vessels with a length of 15 metres or more operating in offshore waters are required to comply with seafood traceability regulations via the eCDT software when departing from and returning to port.

Currently, Quang Nam has 2,562 registered fishing vessels, of which 586 measuring 15 metres or more operate in offshore areas, 472 measuring from 12 to under 15 metres mainly operate in nearshore waters, and the remainder, with a length between 6 to under 12 metres, operate primarily in coastal waters.

However, the monitoring rate of seafood catches at ports remains low. In 2024, only just over 23% of caught seafood was monitored through ports, due to inadequate infrastructure for unloading and handling them.

The entire province currently has only one designated fishing port - Tam Quang Fishing Port. Coastal localities have not yet implemented monitoring of seafood landed at private or traditional fishing docks. Therefore, the rollout of the eCDT software to all vessels with a length of 15 metres or longer is expected to help increase the percentage of monitored seafood.

This is considered one of the concrete measures to implement urgent tasks and solutions in the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, in preparation for the fifth inspection by the European Commission.

In addition, 584 out of the 586 fishing vessels measuring 15 metres or more in the province have now installed Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). The two remaining are currently inactive and docked locally, under strict monitoring to ensure they do not set out to sea.

From the beginning of this year to April 2, 18 fishing vessels operating in the waters bordering the Philippines lost their VMS signals for more than 10 days, and their signals have not yet been restored.

ౠ In response to this situation, on April 9, the provincial People’s Committee issued an official dispatch, requesting the Ministry of National Defence to direct relevant forces to promptly increase patrols and address the issue of VMS disconnection. At the same time, the province has called on these vessels to immediately restore VMS signals within the legally authorised fishing grounds of Vietnam in order to avoid negatively impacting the country’s overall efforts to have the EU’s “yellow card” on Vietnamese seafood lifted./.