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A maritime police official disseminates information of IUU fishing to fishermen |
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday coordinated with the People's Committee of the Central Province of Binh Dinh to organize a conference to implement key and urgent tasks and solutions to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and preparing for working sessions with the fourth inspection delegation of the European Commission (EC).
At the conference, Deputy Director of the Capture Fisheries Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Directorate of Fisheries Vu Duyen Hai mentioned a number of shortcomings in the fisheries sector that have not been completely resolved including uncomplete registered indicators and system updates, quota registration, licensing and installation of vessel monitoring system(VMS )for fishing vessels nationwide.
Moreover, according to him, the certification of seafood origin, verification of information on fishing vessels transshipping at sea, certification of the origin of aquatic products imported by containers is still limited while a few violating fishing boats receive small fines which don’t really helps to deter violators from committing the crimes.
At the same time, it is requested that localities soon clarify and report specifically on the decrease in fleets of fishing boats from October 2022 to February 2023.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Fisheries’ Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation informed more about the plan of the 4th EC inspection delegation from 23 to May 31. The EC delegates will spend 5 days checking in provinces. The inspection takes place when fishermen are at the peak of fishing. Inspectors will focus on fisheries supervision, law enforcement, the origin of seafood products exported to Europe, especially two species of swordfish and tuna as well as inspecting 856 fishing vessels that have not yet installed vessel monitoring system.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung suggested that provinces need to standardize records, arrange storage and fastest trace of origin to satisfy inspectors’ requirements.
A representative of the Vietnam Border Guard's Command proposed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should strengthen coordination with countries with sea areas bordering Vietnam to supply records and evidences of fishing vessels violating foreign waters.
According to a representative of the Vietnam Coast Guard, the unit is strengthening 11 patrol boats to focus on the maritime area bordering Vietnam - Thailand – Cambodia. He proposed the Ministry of Defense to direct the Navy Army to organize regular flights in the sea area bordering Vietnam - Malaysia - Indonesia to promptly detect and prevent domestic fishing vessels from violating.
At the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien proposed the Directorate of Fisheries to review and re-check the shipment of 7 tons of swordfish of an export enterprise in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province which EC suspected of fraudulent export. The case should be transferred to the police for further investigation.
