Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Thanh Hoa (VNA) – The north centralprovince of Thanh Hoa has been taking drastic measures to crack downon illegal fishing vessels, especially those without registration and fishinglicences or those without certificates that prove their seaworthiness (vesselswith 3 NOs).
According to the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, the province now still has 70 vessels with 3NOs.
In addition, a total of 359 local vessels arefound to have their vessel monitoring systems (VMS) disconnected while at sea forover ten days and 697 vessels do not have enough required papers or havetheir VMS disconnected for over six months.
Nguyen Xuan Duong, head of the provincialFisheries Sub-department, said that the province has launched a month-longcampaign to tackle shortcomings in implementing measures against illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The sub-department is coordinatingwith People's Committees of coastal districts, towns, cities, and competent forces to inspect all fishing vessels and verify vessels with expired or no registration or those without fishing licences, foodsafety certificates or active monitoring devices.
It also coordinates with the border guardforce to conduct patrol, inspect and control seafood exploitation activities atsea, beaches, and fishing ports and strictly handle violations, especially"3 NOs" fishing vessels.
All fishing vessels arriving at or leavingports for fishing are required to have sufficient procedures, records, papers and activeVMS for those with a length of 15m or more.
In 2023, the province recorded 359 fishingvessels losing VMS connection for ten days or more. After verifying,authorities imposed administrative penalties of 61 million VND (nearly 2,500USD) on ten cases for disconnecting VMS for a long time. Other 92 cases gotfines of more than 1.6 billion VND for violating Fisheries Law./.
