Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Kien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province ofKien Giang has been advised to combine fishing activities with the protectionof aquatic resources, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentVu Van Tam.
At a meeting with representatives of Kien Giang on July 19,Tam suggested the locality shift its traditional livelihood of standard netfishing to more sustainable methods, such as developing fish farms and offshoreaquaculture.
He urged Kien Giang to make substantial efforts to raise theawareness of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing amongst boatowners, captains, and fishermen, as well as increasing the responsibility ofagencies and local authorities in this regard.
Competent agencies need to closely monitor the operation offishing boats, step up patrols at sea – especially at bordering and overlappingwaters – and strictly punish fishing boats that enter foreign waters whilefishing, the official said.
Kien Giang has a coastline of 200km, with 143 islands. The province boasts a fishing ground ofmore than 63,000sq.km.
In May, the province announceda list of eight vessels and their owners which had engaged in illegal fishing activitiesin foreign waters since the beginning of 2018.
The move is part of KienGiang’s efforts to implement the Government’s Direction No.45 on actions inresponse to the European Commission’s (EC) yellow card warning over IUUfishing, which was issued to Vietnam on October 23 last year.
In the first three months of2018, Kien Giang’s seafood output exceeded 90,000 tonnes, equivalent to 16percent of the year’s plan and up 4.6 percent year-on-year.
In 2017, the figure was above548,000 tonnes, accounting for 20 percent of the country’s total output. -VNA
VNA
