Fishing boats of Vietnam at sea (Photo: VNA)Tien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province ofTien Giang held a meeting on February 1 to implement urgent measures to stopillegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in foreign waters.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee Le Van Nghia said the provincial administration ordered relevantsectors such as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the BorderGuard High Command, the Department of Public Security and the Department ofInformation and Communications along with localities to work closely to raisefishermen’s awareness of domestic policies on fishing and aquatic resourcesprotection and relevant international regulations.
Authorised agencies were asked to seriouslyimplement regulations on boat and fishing management and aquatic resourcesprotection measures. They need to continue requesting owners or captains ofoffshore fishing boats to keep fishing records, report their fishing activities,and install vehicle monitoring devices.
Authorities of Tien Giang are set to increaseexamining the management of fishing boats and dealing with IUU fishing. Theywill also build a fisheries database system which includes information aboutfishing boats, sailors, and fishing output.
[PM approves national action plan to combat IUU fishing]
Fishing activities are mostly conducted byfishermen in the districts of Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay and Tan Phu Dong, GoCong township, and My Tho city.
In 2017, tens of local fishing boats werearrested by foreign countries for IUU fishing.
Vietnam was served with a yellow card warning bythe European Commission (EC) in September 2017 for failing to progress infighting IUU fishing, and it has been offered the opportunity to take measuresto rectify the situation within six months.
To this end, the EC has proposed an action planfor the country. The "yellow card" is followed by a "greencard" if issues are resolved or a "red card" if they aren’t. A“red card” can lead to a trade ban on fishery products.
On December 13, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc issued Directive 45/CT-TTg on some urgent tasks and solutions followingthe EC’s warning.
Many coastal localities of Vietnam have alsotaken actions to end IUU fishing.-VNA
VNA
