Binh Thuan province works to halt illegal fishing (Photo: VNA)Binh Thuan (VNA) – The south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan has undertaken a wide range of measures to fight illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the locality as a part of the nationalefforts to remove the European Commission (EC)’s ‘yellow card’ warning againstVietnam’s seafood exports.
Under the plans, communication programmes continue tobe enhanced to raise public awareness to IUU fishing. The communications call on localresidents to observe the guidelines and policies of the Party and State,especially regulations on anti-IUU fishing andinfringements of foreign waters.
Authorised units play an important role in persuadingfishermen to install vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on their boats,monitoring, inspecting and controlling fishing vessel activities throughVMS. They also grant certificates of production and traceability of aquaticproducts, and enforce fishing regulations and strictly handlingviolations.
Units update information on the national fisheriesdatabase VNfishbase and grant fishing and food safety licences to vessels inline with origin tracing regulations under the guidance of the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development.
Local authorities require relevant units to closely manage the activity of local fishing vessels at sea and control ships entering andleaving ports. It has also intensified the monitoring of fishing catches andtheir origin, and strictly handled all violations of anti-IUU regulations.
In 2022, authorities disciplined 400 fishing vessels forviolations, including electrofishing, unlicensed fishing and absence of signal of VMS, among other infringements./.
