An inspection team from the European Commission (EC) will visit Vietnam to examine the country’s efforts on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention and control in October instead of May as the EC had announced earlier, Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said on May 21.
Luan said that the EC suggested the organization of online working sessions with Vietnamese authorities in May, June, and October before sending the team to Vietnam.
In late May, a MARD delegation will have in-person working sessions with EC representatives to update them on Vietnam’s achievements in IUU fishing prevention and control with the hope of narrowing the EC’s recommendations to Vietnam.
Since the EC’s inspection in last October, Vietnam has worked hard to implement four groups of the EC’s recommendations on IUU fishing prevention and control, including those on legal framework; fishing vessel monitoring and control, and fleet management; seafood output verification and origin traceability; and law enforcement.
The MARD has also set up working groups to inspect the situation in coastal localities and instruct them in rolling out measures against IUU fishing and implementing the EC's recommendations.
Meanwhile, ministries and central agencies as well as localities have focused on realizing their tasks of IUU fishing combat, preventing and settling ships violating foreign waters and IUU fishing activities.
Luan urged ministries, sectors and localities to work harder to fix existing problems, step up communications on regulations against IUU fishing, and prepare to receive the EC inspection team, thus persuading the EC to remove the “yellow card” against Vietnamese seafood exports.
According to the Directorate of Fisheries, as of April 30, up to 28,797 out of 29,489 fishing vessels nationwide had installed the vessel monitoring systems (VMS). The majority of the remaining vessels have been out of service and kept ashore.
