Eliminate existing problems to remove the "yellow card"

SGGP November 28, 2023 07:15

The results of the European Commission's (EC) fourth on-site inspection recently recorded a number of positive changes in Vietnam in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

However, there are still many shortcomings and limitations that are slow to be overcome, so the "yellow card" for seafood exports to the European Union (EU) market has not been removed after more than 6 years of warning.

According to the Prime Minister 's telegram No. 1508/CD-TTG dated November 4, the EC's fourth inspection pointed out limitations in Vietnam's IUU work such as: there is still a situation of fishing vessels illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters; law enforcement in some localities is not uniform, the responsibility of officials while performing official duties is limited, there are delays in investigating and handling violations; the management and monitoring of the fleet's activities are not strict; the traceability of exploited seafood is still weak and has many shortcomings.

The telegram also warned that if the existing shortcomings are not promptly resolved, the risk of being given a “red card” is very high. The subjectivity and negligence of many management agencies, especially some localities that have not been serious in implementing their assigned tasks and solutions, is the main cause of this situation.

A typical example is Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, one of the few localities that was criticized by the Prime Minister and required to review organizations and individuals due to lack of close supervision in direction, implementation organization, content preparation, and many shortcomings in plans when working with the EC inspection team. Although IUU work in recent years in Ba Ria - Vung Tau has improved a lot, from having dozens of ships with hundreds of fishermen arrested by foreign countries each year for illegal fishing violations, from August 2022 to now, this locality has not recorded any violating ships. However, that result is still not enough when the inspection team pointed out many "errors" in implementing the EC's recommendations.

Specifically, there are still cases of fishing vessels losing connection signal to the journey monitoring device, unable to contact the vehicle owner; many cases of long-term disconnection but not being punished; some vessels randomly discovered on shore with signs of fishing but without registration number or documents. In particular, the problem of fishing vessels with 3 nos (no registration, no inspection and no fishing license) still occurs.

Statistics show that the whole province has nearly 4,600 fishing boats, of which 791 are unregistered, 167 have expired inspections, and 1,220 boats do not have fishing licenses...

According to Mr. Tran Ngoc Quan, Trade Counselor of the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium and the EU, in the coming months, if the actual implementation of IUU measures improves compared to the recent inspection, the EU will consider removing the IUU “yellow card” for Vietnam before the EU Parliamentary elections. Therefore, from now on, not only the agricultural sector but also the entire political system needs to join hands to remove the “yellow card” for seafood exports worth billions of dollars each year.

Source