Ben Tre (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre is focusing on finishingthe installation of fishing vessel monitoring devices in a bid to fight illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Since June 2019, theprovince has installed tracking devices on local fishing vessels. To date, thedevices have been installed on 453 vessels with length of 24 metres or more,equivalent to 96.58 percent, and 875 boats with length of from 15 metres tounder 24 metres, or 50.75 percent.
Huynh Van Cung, headof the province’s Fishery Office, said that the province is facing difficultiesin this work, as many vehicles have delayed the installation. Local authorised agencies have warned 100 households with 200 vehicles for their delay.
Vice Chairman of theprovincial People’s Committee Nguyen Huu Lap asked relevant agencies tointensify dissemination work to raise fishmen’s awareness of fishing-relatedlaws and regulations, especially the 2017 Law on Fisheries.
The locality willtake measures to force vessel owners to install tracking devices, strictlycontrol fishing boats operating at the ports as well as monitoring offshorevessels through monitoring systems.
It will alsostrictly punish those violating regulations on IUU fishing prevention, Lapadded./.