Online conference on promoting solutions to combat illegal fishing

On August 29, the Government Office coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize an online conference with coastal localities to promote solutions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang chaired the conference. Also attending were leaders of relevant ministries, departments, branches and professional associations. Attending and chairing the conference at Ninh Binh bridge was comrade Tran Song Tung, member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Recently, the Government, the Prime Minister , the National Steering Committee on IUU, and localities have resolutely directed and implemented measures to implement the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) to remove the "yellow card" warning and have achieved positive results.

Specifically: Vietnam has basically completed the legal framework, aiming at developing a sustainable fisheries industry. Implemented a reduction in the number of fishing vessels and fishing force; adjusted the number of fishing license quotas in coastal and offshore areas. The fishing vessel monitoring system has been deployed synchronously from the central to local levels, nearly 98% of fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more have been installed with VMS voyage monitoring equipment, the remaining vessels are mostly out of operation. Monitoring and inspection of fishing vessels at ports has been strengthened, thereby tightly controlling the output of fishing vessels unloaded through ports, doing a good job of confirming, certifying and tracing the origin and IUU fishing behavior.

In particular, the situation of Vietnamese fishing vessels illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters has been prevented and resolutely handled, thanks to which the number of violations has significantly decreased.

However, in reality, there are still cases of fishing boats disconnecting from VMS and operating in the wrong areas; the rate of monitoring seafood output through ports is still low; there are still many errors in recording and submitting fishing logs...

Regarding Ninh Binh province, the whole province currently has 66 fishing vessels, of which 8 operate offshore; 58 operate in the open sea and inshore; the output in 2022 is about 7 thousand tons. Ninh Binh does not have a fishing port, only has a storm shelter for fishing vessels at the mouth of the Day River. Although the number of fishing vessels is small, mainly operating inshore, the province has been very determined in directing the fight against IUU fishing.

Up to now, 100% of the province's fishing vessels have registered and been granted licenses for fishing activities, and their data has been updated on VN-Fishbase; 8 fishing vessels over 15m in length operating offshore have been equipped with voyage monitoring devices. The authorities regularly carry out patrols, inspections, and supervision of fishing activities at sea in the province; promptly detect and prevent fishing vessels from violating IUU fishing, and prevent Ninh Binh fishing vessels from illegally fishing in foreign waters.

Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang emphasized that there is still more than a month to make efforts to remove the IUU "yellow card", the most important factor now is to resolutely put an end to the situation of fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested relevant ministries, sectors and coastal provinces and cities to uphold their sense of responsibility and be more determined in combating IUU fishing. He directed the authorities to increase patrols, inspections, supervision and strictly handle violations to serve as a deterrent.

Localities and relevant units continue to promote propaganda and dissemination of regulations of the Fisheries Law so that people in coastal areas clearly understand and do not violate legal regulations on IUU, preserve reserves and ensure biodiversity in the sea, towards sustainable exploitation of aquatic and seafood products.

Nguyen Luu-Anh Tuan

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