Fishing vessels dock at an estuary in Kien Long district of Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA)Kien Giang (VNA) – Some 3,360 fishing vessels or 84percent of the total in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang had beenequipped with the vessel monitoring systems as of late May, according to theprovincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Relevant agencies have been asked to complete theinstallation of the systems on all local fishing vessels and impose strictpunishments on violators, as part of the measures to prevent, mitigate and putan end to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and unlawful entryinto foreign waters.
A delegation will work with nearly 150 owners of over 220vessels to raise awareness of turning the systems on round the clock.
The move is expected to help lift the “yellow card” warning ofthe European Commission (EC) on Vietnamese seafood products since October 2017.
Kien Giang reported 106 violating vessels last year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, due to the “yellow card”, Vietnam’s seafood exports to the EU fellby 6.5 percent to 390 million USD in 2018 and 11.5 percent to 345.2 million USDin 2019.
From being the second-largest import market for Vietnam’sseafood, after the “yellow card” the EU dropped to the fifth and its importshave decreased from 18 percent to 13 percent of Vietnam’s total exports./.
