Fishing boats of Vietnam dock off the coast of Da Nang city (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – As the fishing season from Aprilthrough September has begun, the fisheries resources surveillance force hasbeen strengthening patrols to support Vietnamese fishermen and minimiseviolations by foreign fishing ships in the country’s seas.
Aside from increasing patrols at sea, lawenforcement forces of Vietnam have also been stepping up communications, callingon fishermen to report to relevant authorities if they spot any illegal fishingactivities by foreign ships in the country’s sea areas, according to Luu VanHuy – Director of the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department underthe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The department has also requested Vietnamesefishermen to comply with fishing regulations and not to exploit marineresources illegally in foreign sea areas.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s Directorate ofFisheries said it has asked coastal localities to take many measures to ensuresafety for fishermen and fishing boats at sea, including boosting theexamination of vessels’ safety status, demanding fishermen to adhere toregulations on seafood catch and species composition, increasing disseminationactivities, and installing tracking devices on boats.
The agency said thanks to drastic actions by theGovernment, ministries, sectors and localities, positive outcomes have beenobtained from the implementation of solutions to persuade the EuropeanCommission (EC) to remove its “yellow card” warning for Vietnam over illegal,unreported and unregulated fishing. EC inspectors have highly valued theseactions.
Since the beginning of 2018, there haven’t beenany Vietnamese fishing boats violating sea areas of island countries in the WesternPacific Region. However, some boats still operated in wrong areas, did not makeoperation records or catch reports, and used fishing nets with too smallmeshes, according to the directorate.-VNA
VNA
