Fishing vessels in Ben Tre province (Photo: VNA) Following the latest tripin October 2023, an EC delegation is scheduled to visit Vietnam for anotherinspection this April. Given this, the national steering committee for IUUfishing combat has set certain requirements for relevant parties so as to lift theEC “yellow card” warning after the coming inspection.
Kien Giang is home tothe largest fleet of fishing vessels in the Mekong Delta while its coastal waters attracts a large number of vessels from other Vietnamese localities.
The province has licensed more than7,000 fishing vessels. Among them, over 3,600 vehicles that are 15 metres longand over, equivalent to 99.5% of those of this type, have been licensed andequipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS), reported its Department of Agricultureand Rural Development.
Vice Chairman of theprovincial People’s Committee Le Quoc Anh said fighting IUU fishing is meant tothoroughly deal with violations in foreign waters. Under the leadershipof the provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, the local steeringcommittee has boosted communications, education, and strict punishments to discourage illegal fishing.
Under a directive of theKien Giang People’s Committee, local authorities are boosting the settlement of violating vessels with a viewto controlling unverified, unregistered, and unlicensed boats byApril. Assistance will also be given to the fishermen facing livelihooddifficulties in the time ahead, he continued.
Authorities haveenhanced examination of vessels arriving at and departing from local fisheryports, as well as patrols at sea and settlement of violations, the official added.
Anh elaborated thatdepartments and sectors have worked with the Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, the border guard force, and Naval Squadron 28 to deal with 472 violations involving 547 vessels with fines of over 13 billion VND (529,800USD). They have also fined vessels more than 21 billion VND for breaking ruleson VMS installation.
Other southern provinces like Ca Mau,Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau have also been working hard to helpwith the “yellow card” removal.
Pham Thi Na, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, said herprovince has exerted efforts to fight illegal fishing. As a result, the number ofviolation cases has gradually decreased, and the vessels losingVMS signals for over 10 days fell by 65% in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee Nguyen Van Tho noted that the administration has ordered theagriculture department give timely notifications so that district-level authoritieswork with vessel owners to handle outstanding problems. They have also asked law enforcementforces at sea to hold patrols and deal with violating vessels, and update dataabout all local fishing vessels on the national fisheries database (VNFishbase).
Na said Ba Ria - Vung Tau hasinstalled VMS on 96.4% of local fishing vessels, arranged stations to monitoractivities of those vehicles around the clock, and informed other coastallocalities nationwide about the vessels of Ba Ria - Vung Tau that do not have VMS and not operate in the province’s waters.
Sen. Lt. Col. Nguyen Hung Son, ChiefCommander of the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Border Guard, said its force will push aheadwith various measures, including increasing communications among fishermen andcoordinating with other units to handle violations.
The EC issued a “yellow card” warning for Vietnamin this regard in 2017. It can be followed by a"green card" if the problem is resolved or a "red card" ifit is not. A “red card” may lead to a complete ban on aquatic exports to the EU./.
VNA
