Mekong Delta provinces have stepped up efforts in the fight against IUU fishing. (Photo: VNA)Kien Giang province reported no fishing boats violating foreign waters inrecent months, according to the provincial steering board for IUU fishing prevention and control.
The result was attributed to the local authorities’ application of drastic and synchronous measures against IUU fishing, with a wide range of inspections andenhanced communications work to raise local fishermen’s awareness of current regulationson IUU fishing prevention put in place, said Deputy Director of the provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development Quang Trong Thao, who is also deputy headof the steering board.
Todate, the vessel monitoring system (VMS) has been installed on 3,652 fishingboats out of 3,707 vessels with a length of 15 metres or longer. Meanwhile, theremaining ships are being listed for monitoring, with all of them out ofoperation.
Since the outset of the year, competent authorities have made more than 290calls for 225 boats travelling outside Vietnamese waters, and nearly 20,000calls for 1,811 fishing boats with VMS disconnected.
Thao also said that Kien Giang police have joined hands with their counterparts in the provinces of Ca May, Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, and Binh Thuan and HCM City to prevent illegal immigration for illegal fishing.
Meanwhile, Tra Vinh province has directed itsDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development to control the registration andlicensing of local fishing boats, those operating in the local waters, andthose without the installation of VMS.
Theborder guard is responsible for controlling the number of vessels docking atand departing from local ports, and updating data on the national fisheriesdatabase VNFishbase, and prevent all vessels failing to comply with the VMSregulations from operating.
According to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Van Dung, the department has completed registration and licensingprocedures, installation of the VMS and update data of local fishing boats on thenational fisheries database.
All of the local vessels have been monitored while fishing at sea via the VMS,and strictly complied with current regulations on certificates and traceabilityof caught seafood.
Tra Vinh has 879 registered fishing boats, including 272 with a lengthfrom 15 metres. By the end of August, all of the local vessels were equippedwith the VMSs.
Communications work has been given a focus to raise public awareness of illegalfishing in foreign waters as well as legal fishing grounds.
Inspectorsfrom the EC are scheduled to come to Vietnam to examine the country’s effortson IUU fishing prevention and control in October instead of May.
According tothe EC’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG-MARE), Vietnamhas to take more stringent measures in preventing IUU fishing and violations of foreignwaters with 100% of the cases investigated and handled, includingthose of vessels arrested at foreign seas and ships that do not maintainmonitoring devices according to regulations.
The European Union (EU) is one of the top export markets for Vietnameseseafood, only behind the US and Chinese markets. It contributedapproximately 1.3 billion USD in Vietnam’s total seafood export turnover of 11billion USD in 2022.
The EU hasregulations on certifying the origin of imported seafood, thereby classifyingcountries exporting seafood products with the green, yellow and red cards, or atrade ban at the most critical level.
With a yellowcard, 100% of Vietnam’s seafood exports to the EU are subject toinspection, which reduces the export volume, increase the costs and deliverytime./.
VNA
