Tien Giang raises awareness of anti-IUU fishing for fishermen

Tien Giang is stepping up propaganda against IUU fishing in many forms to raise awareness among fishermen and relevant levels and sectors.

Tiền Giang nâng cao nhận thức về chống khai thác IUU cho ngư dân

Ships and boats comply with the installation of voyage monitoring equipment. (Source: tiengiang.gov.vn)

Tien Giang has a traditional seafood exploitation industry that creates jobs and income for people in the eastern coastal areas, concentrated in localities such as Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay, and My Tho city.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province, the Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Tien Giang province has stepped up propaganda against IUU fishing in many forms to raise awareness among fishermen and relevant levels and sectors on preventing and controlling IUU fishing in association with sustainable development of the fishing industry while protecting resources.

In particular, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda work as well as effectively implement proactive monitoring measures such as installing equipment to monitor fishing vessels' journeys to promptly prevent Tien Giang fishing vessels from violating foreign waters during their fishing activities. Thereby, ensuring effectiveness, contributing to the whole country's efforts to remove the "yellow card" of the European Commission (EC).

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province has coordinated with relevant units to organize propaganda on legal documents regulating IUU fishing, handling administrative violations in IUU violations... for hundreds of ship owners and fishing boat captains in the province.

Each locality with a developed seafood exploitation industry has joined hands to deploy effective measures to prevent and combat IUU fishing; in which, Go Cong Dong district organized 342 propaganda sessions; broadcast 244 sessions on radio; and integrated propaganda into 100 meetings attracting thousands of attendees. My Tho city organized 22 propaganda sessions on preventing and combating IUU fishing for fishermen and related subjects, attracting nearly 700 people.

Tien Giang province also established an Inspection Team for the task of combating IUU fishing; continued to issue new and convert quotas for granting fishing licenses to fishing vessels according to regulations. At the same time, implemented an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism between departments, ministries, branches and People's Committees of 28 coastal provinces and centrally run cities in exchanging and processing information to prevent and eventually end the situation of Vietnamese fishing vessels violating regulations on combating IUU fishing.

The locality also assigned wards and communes with traditional seafood exploitation professions to verify cases of fishing vessels losing monitoring signals at sea for more than 10 days and verify cases of fishing vessels going beyond the permitted boundaries at sea to have solutions to strictly handle them according to legal regulations.

On the other hand, fishing vessel owners must sign a commitment not to exploit seafood in foreign waters and commit not to violate the ban on exploiting marine animals and plants of Vietnam and internationally for fishing vessel owners who have not yet fulfilled their commitment.

In addition, implementing support policies for fishermen; prioritizing the allocation of resources, equipment and upgrading fishing infrastructure...

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province, currently, the province still has 75 ships that have not installed voyage monitoring equipment, of which 4 ships have sunk or burned but have not been deregistered, 3 ships have been transferred to another province but have not changed their names, and 68 ships are docked and have not yet started operating.

Records from local authorities show that in 2022 and the first 7 months of 2023, Tien Giang did not record any information about the province's fishing vessels violating foreign waters being arrested.

Source