Khanh Hoa (VNA) - A shortage of personnel has been creating problemsfor coastal areas in supervising fishing boats, an agricultural official told aconference on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing held recently inthe south-central coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

The imposition of administrative penalties to handle fishing vesselsillegally entering foreign waters has been inconsistent in localities, whilethere are still reports of vessels without licenses and others turning offtracking devices, Nguyen Van Chien, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultureand Rural Development in the south-central province of Binh Thuan, told thegathering.

The conference was held by the Directorate of Fisheries and attended by representativesfrom departments of agriculture and rural development, sub-departments offisheries, and major fishing ports in 28 coastal cities and provincesnationwide.

It shared the outcome of a visit by a European Commission (EC)delegation to Vietnam to inspect the implementation of its recommendationsagainst IUU fishing earlier this year, and also reviewed the realisation of itsrecommendations.

Addressing the conference, Nguyen Quang Hung, Deputy General Director ofthe Directorate of Fisheries, said coastal cities and provinces have made clearprogress in realising the EC’s recommendations against IUU fishing after threeyears of effort to remove its “yellow card” warning on Vietnamese seafood.

Vietnam is focusing on enacting four recommendations put forward by theEC in November last year: revising the legal framework; increasing the monitoring,control, and surveillance of fishing activities and fishing fleets; catchcertification; and legal enforcement.

The determination of localities to prevent their fishing vessels from illegallyentering foreign waters is decisive in making the EC reconsider its “yellowcard”, he said.

He cited the fact that Vietnam has seen sharp declines in seafoodexports to the EU since receiving the “yellow card” three years ago, plunging 6percent and 15 percent, respectively, in 2018 and 2019.

Shipments this year are forecast to total just 340 million USD, down 10percent against 2019 year and 28 percent against 2017.

To fulfil the EC’s recommendations, the Directorate of Fisheries hasexpanded its international cooperation with counterparts from Thailand, thePhilippines, Brunei, China, and Cambodia, among others, in combating IUUfishing. This has facilitated the exchange of information on illegal fishing vesselsand the establishment of hotlines.

As of November, 82.92 percent of fishing vessels with a length of 15 metresor more in Vietnam had had tracking devices installed. The country detected 274fishing vessels more than 24 metres in length illegally encroaching upon foreignwaters, and 1,348 boats losing their tracking signal for more than 10 days,both down against previous years./.