Vietnam is making thorough preparations to welcome the European Commission (EC)'s inspection delegation with the hope of having its “yellow card” on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing against the fisheries sector removed, thus boosting seafood exports to the EU market.
Various IUU fishing prevention and control activities have been carried out by coastal localities across the country.
The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has recently issued an official dispatch asking all localities in the province to focus on rolling out drastic solutions against IUU fishing.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Lam Minh Thanh said that the whole political system in the province has been mobilised to fight IUU fishing.
The provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Department to coordinate with units and agencies as well as the provincial Border Guard Command to urgently implement registration and issuance of certificates of technical safety and exploitation licences for fishing vessels, while ensuring that all vessel install the Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and fully update information about fishing vessels on the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).
Local authorities are requested to supervise fluctuations in the number of fishing vessel in the locality and update information on VNFishbase.
Meanwhile, the southernmost province of Ca Mau has also drastically handled violations of IUU fishing prevention and control regulations, while launched an automatic switchboard to receive information about fishing vessels that lose connections.
To date, the province has detected and penalised 199 violations with a total fine of more than 7.5 billion VND (295,625 USD), including 108 IUU fishing violations with a fine of more than 6.3 billion VND.
Phan Hoang Vu, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the province has launched legal proceedings on three cases related to organising and brokering illegal emigration and illegal exploitation in foreign waters.
Along with the State’s efforts, the community of fishermen has shown a higher sense of responsibility in fighting IUU fishing, protecting their livelihoods as well as the sustainability of the country’s fishery sector.
Duong Van Ket, a fisherman in Tran Van Thoi district of Ca Mau, said that strict punishments should be given to those who violate IUU fishing prevention and control regulations to avoid bad impacts on the whole community.
Duong Xuan Dung, Political Commissar of Squadron 42 under the Coast Guard Region 4 Command, said that the Coast Guard force has maintained close connections with localities and relevant agencies to popularise legal regulations on fishing and sea and islands, while giving consultancy to fishermen to raise their awareness of IUU prevention and control.
The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has shown a high determination to combat IUU fishing to protect the rights of fishermen and the sustainability of the local fishery sector.
Huynh Son Thai, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that since August 2023, the province has deregistered 413 burnt, sunk, rotten and dumped fishing ships. Currently, the whole province has 4,398 fishing boats, of which 2,598 are operating offshore, accounting for 59.1%.
The province has set up three working teams to inspect and support fishing vessels lacking legal documents to process registration, aiming to complete the work in November, Thai said./.
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