Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vice Chairman Hoang Nguyen Dinh has instructed local authorities to urgently review and strictly manage fishing vessels that do not meet regulatory requirements. He also requested that the installation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) be completed by March 9.
The directive was issued following a meeting on the management of non-compliant fishing vessels. In a notice released yesterday, the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing summarized the conclusions of Vice Chairman Hoang Nguyen Dinh from the meeting.
Accordingly, city leaders requested the Party Secretaries and Chairmen of the People's Committees of coastal communes and wards with fishing vessels operating to strictly implement the directives of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee on strengthening control and preventing IUU fishing violations. Local leaders will be held accountable to the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee if unqualified fishing vessels continue to operate or if fishermen violate IUU regulations.
Initially, localities must focus on strictly managing fishing vessels that do not meet operating requirements, accurately identifying the location, coordinates, and mooring places of each vessel; requiring vessel owners not to leave fishing gear on board, and absolutely prohibiting vessels from departing until all required procedures are completed. The list of fishing vessels that do not meet operating requirements must be publicly posted at the headquarters of people's committees in communes and in residential areas for public monitoring.
Notably, city leaders requested that localities coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology to install GPS tracking devices on all fishing vessels that do not meet operating requirements in their areas, completing this by March 9. The Vice Chairman of the People's Committee in charge of the locality must directly install the monitoring software to closely track and manage the location and coordinates of the vessels.
Daily, localities must report the mooring locations and images of fishing vessels docked ashore and conduct on-site inspections and verifications. Upon detecting GPS tracking devices indicating a vessel has left its anchorage, authorities must immediately instruct the vessel owner to return and take strict action if compliance is not met.
For fishing vessels operating outside the city limits that do not meet operating requirements, local authorities must assign organizations or individuals to monitor them, install GPS tracking devices, affix identification tags, and maintain contact with the vessel owner to update their location and images daily.
In addition, the city requires increased inspections and prohibits fishing vessels from unloading seafood at unauthorized docks or harbors; fishing vessels 6 meters or longer must enter ports to unload seafood in accordance with regulations.
The leader of Ho Chi Minh City required local authorities to take action with the spirit of "thorough review - strong action - strict control - no violations," determined to soon lift the IUU yellow card warning against Vietnamese seafood.
