Fishing boats of Vietnam (Illustrative photo: VNA)TheDirectorate of Fisheries has certified eight VMSs that meet the standards stipulatedin the Government’s Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP.
Asof August 2021, 26,915 fishing boats, equivalent to 87.45 percent of the total,had been equipped with VMSs whose signals were recorded by the directorate’ssurveillance system. Among them, 3,000 vessels in 28 coastal provinces and centrally-run cities had satellite-based VMSs under Movimar,a cooperation project between Vietnam, represented by the management board foragricultural projects under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,and France, represented by the CollecteLocalisation Satellites (CLS) company.
A central vessel monitoring network and two monitoringstations based in northern Hai Phong city and southern Ba Ria - Vung Tauprovince were set up, enabling authorities to practice real-time surveillanceof vessels working at sea so as to detect boats breaking anti-IUU fishingrules and assist fishermen in emergencies.
Luong Do, Institutional Relationship Manager at CLS Vietnam,said with much experience gained during the implementation of the Movimar project, thecountry’s relevant agencies can build appropriate regulations and acomprehensive fishery management information system, thus helping to improve themonitoring, management, and support for fishing activities in Vietnam.
The 2017 Law on Fisheries stipulated compulsory installationand around-the-clock operation of VMSs on all the boats that are 15 metres longand over throughout fishing trips. In case VMSs break down, boat owners orcaptains have to use other communication devices to report their vehicles’location to fisheries departments or border guard commands every six hours. If theyare unable to fix the devices, vessels must return to fishing ports for repairwithin 10 days since the breakdown.
The law also detailed fines for the intentional shutdown,deactivation, or uninstallation of VMSs.
The vessels permitted to enter ports and unload caught seafoodmust show all the regulated papers, not commit IUU fishing, and report all oftheir catch to fishing ports’ authorities. Monitoring data and fishing diaries willbe used to determine the catch by vessels 15 metres long and over.
Sincethe VMS installation was launched, law violations during fishing trips havedeclined. Notably, some provinces haven’t recorded any vessels that infringedforeign waters and were detained since the start of 2022.
Ata teleconference with the 28 coastal provinces and cities in July 2021, thenational steering committee for anti-IUU fishing set the target of putting anend to violations of anti-IUU fishing rules in 2022 so as to lift the EU’s “yellowcard” warning./.
VNA
