Binh Thuan determined to control "3 no" ships

Being one of the provinces with the largest number of “3 no” vessels (unregistered, uninspected and unlicensed fishing vessels) in the country with more than 2,000 vessels, it has caused direct difficulties in controlling and handling violations in fishing. However, with many efforts, Binh Thuan is the pioneer province in completing the temporary registration of a large number of “3 no” vessels - one of the important recommendations that the EC Inspection Team will inspect for the 5th time in the near future.

Binh Thuan currently has 8,317 fishing vessels with the longest length of 6m or more operating in fisheries. The number of registered vessels is 5,937, of which 1,960 are offshore fishing vessels, 1,902 are offshore fishing vessels, and 2,075 are coastal fishing vessels. In particular, the number of fishing vessels that have arisen and are unregistered in the province ("3 no" fishing vessels) is 2,380. The management of fishing vessels based on fishing license quotas has created a major change in fisheries management, enhancing the responsibility of specialized functional agencies and authorities at all levels in managing local fishing fleets. However, in addition to the implementation of the offshore fishing license quota allocated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development quite closely to reality (reaching 99.2%), the implementation of the offshore and coastal fishing license quota announced by the Provincial People's Committee is still low (reaching 84.67% of the offshore quota and only 39.84% of the coastal quota). The reason is that the number of "3 no" fishing vessels operating in the coastal area is quite large, but do not meet the conditions and procedures for official fishing vessel registration, so they have not been granted fishing licenses. After half a month of drastic efforts, focusing resources on implementing the registration and temporary registration of "3 no" fishing vessels in operation, up to now, 2,380 "3 no" fishing vessels in the whole province have been granted temporary registration for monitoring and management before Circular No. 23/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 15, 2018 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development takes effect.

*Binh Thuan has more than 8,000 fishing boats with a length of 6m or more. Photo: N.Lan*

To ensure that all fishing vessels in the province operate in accordance with the law and effectively carry out urgent tasks and solutions to combat IUU fishing as directed by the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Provincial People's Committee has proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to grant additional offshore fishing license quotas to Binh Thuan province. In Decision 1223 dated March 23, 2021 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the allocation of offshore fishing license quotas to provinces and centrally run cities, Binh Thuan province is allocated a quota of 1,940 offshore fishing licenses. To date, 1,921 offshore fishing licenses have been granted, with 19 unused licenses.

*The number of "3 no" fishing boats of the province operating in coastal areas is quite large.*

In addition, implementing the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang - Head of the National Steering Committee, the Provincial People's Committee has resolutely implemented the review, statistics, and list of "3 no" fishing vessels for control and handling. Through the review, there are 77 fishing vessels with a length of 15 meters or more that are in the "3 no" category (not yet registered). To ensure the quota of offshore fishing licenses granted to these fishing vessels, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development consider and grant Binh Thuan province an additional 77 offshore fishing licenses. Thus, the total quota of offshore fishing licenses of the province after adjustment and supplementation is 2,017 licenses. In addition, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development soon issue a Circular amending and supplementing Circular No. 23/2018/TT-BNNPTNT to remove obstacles, creating conditions for localities to completely resolve the group of "3 no" fishing vessels to put them under management, reducing the number of fishing vessels violating IUU fishing.

*More than 2,000 "3 no" ships in the province have been granted temporary registration for monitoring and management.*

The EC's fifth inspection in April 2024 is the last chance for Vietnam to remove the yellow card before the EU elections, so comprehensive solutions are needed to create substantial changes in the fight against IUU fishing to remove the EC's "yellow card" warning.

For fishing vessels with a length of 6 meters or more that have been registered and granted fishing licenses according to the provisions of the 2017 Fisheries Law and Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP of the Government, have been regularly reviewed and updated by competent authorities in the province into the national fisheries database (VNFishbase) in accordance with regulations.

Mr. Van

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