HCM City (VNA) - The European Unionis ready to support Vietnam’s seafood industry, but it has to review itsfisheries management and address its shortcomings, the First Counselor of theEU Delegation to Vietnam, Miriam Garcia Ferrer, told a meeting in HCM City onNovember 9.

The meeting, with officials from the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exportersand Producers (VASEP) and seafood export firms, was held after the country waslast month served with a yellow card warning by the EU for failing to progressin fighting IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing.

Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy secretary general of VASEP, said his association’s IUUworking group did a study of fisheries management, the process of issuingfishing licences, and poor fisheries management in three key central fishingareas, Da Nang city and the provinces of Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan.

The three do not adequately record data of fishing trips, he admitted.

VASEP has recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentshould establish a national IUU working group and organise a nationalconference to discuss the yellow card and take action to avoid a red card,which is imminent in six months in the absence of improvement, he said.

VASEP said its review, which includes the EU’s recommendations, would beconsidered to draft amendments to the Fisheries Law.

These include making it mandatory for fishing vessels to use equipment likecameras to record data during their fishing trips, he said.

VASEP would issue a White Book on the IUU programme indicating Vietnam’sefforts to improve its fisheries management, he said.

It would also get foreign experts to make recommendations for improvement, headded.

Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, chairwoman of VASEP’s Marine Product Committee, said thereis not much time left before the six months lapse, and hoped the country canavoid the red card, which would preclude fisheries exports to the EU.

Ferrer appreciated VASEP’s efforts and said the EU’s warning would help Vietnamimprove its systems ahead of the proposed bilateral free trade agreement(EVFTA).

The country could learn good fisheries management from the Philippines andThailand, she said.

Vietnam has favourable geographical conditions to develop its seafood industrywith its long coastline of over 3,260 km and more than 3,000 islands andislets.

Fisheries is a key sector whose output has been consistently rising in recentyears. 

The country hopes to become a leading seafood exporter by 2020.

But its aquaculture industry also faces many challenges, including limitedaccess to capital, modest ability to adopt technologies, epidemic outbreaks andunfair competition among seafood companies.-VNA