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At the meeting |
According to the leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Prime Minister has just sent a telegram criticizing four provinces that don’t tighten management resulting in illegal fishing vessels in foreign waters. The PM also proposed to review the responsibility of the heads of these localities.
This morning, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with the People's Committee of Binh Dinh Province to organize a conference to implement key and urgent tasks and solutions to combat IUU fishing to prepare for a working session with the 4th European Commission (EC) Inspection Delegation in Quy Nhon City.
The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates from the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries, agencies and 28 coastal provinces and cities.
At the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien announced a number of relevant contents according to the Prime Minister’s Official Dispatch 265/CD-TTg dated April 17, 2023, on focusing on the solutions for removal of difficulties and obstacles, the promotion of production and consumption of agricultural products and the implementation of three National Target Programs and IUU fishing combat.
In particular, the Prime Minister's Official Letter criticized four provinces including Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, and Kien Giang because authorities in these provinces have practiced loose management resulting in local fishing vessels violating foreign waters from the beginning of 2023 to the present.
PM Pham Minh Chinh requested provinces to clearly define the responsibilities of the heads of localities and relevant units to report to the Prime Minister before May 15, 2023.
In addition, the Prime Minister's official dispatch directed local units to strictly, synchronously and effectively implement the IUU prevention and control plan approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 2-2023.
He requested to necessarily take drastic action to clear away the existing problems as recommended by the European Commission (EC). The Prime Minister requested relevant parties to carefully prepare for the upcoming meeting with the 4th EC Inspection Delegation from May 25 to May 31.
According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, the Prime Minister's official telegram directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to implement measures to control and prevent illegally caught fishery products, specially imported by containers according to EC recommendations.
Moreover, related ministries must review and supplement legal regulations according to the new draft decree amending and supplementing Decree 26 of the Government detailing a number of things to implement measures to implement the Fisheries Law to manage and report to the Prime Minister in the second quarter of 2023.
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Inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development supervise Quy Nhon port |
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development directed the management of fishing vessels, registration and issuance of licenses for registration of fishing vessels in accordance with the present regulations.
Border guards and fishery control forces ought to increase patrol to detect what fishing vessels that are not eligible to participate in fishing according to the current regulations.
Chairmen of people's committees of coastal provinces and cities need to strictly manage fishing vessels in and out of local ports as well as supervise the output of seafood caught and unloaded through the port to trace the origin.
Local authorities must conduct an investigation for thoroughly handling violations. If there is sufficient evidence, offenders must be criminally prosecuted in accordance with the law, particularly, those who have intentionally violated the IUU regulations by legalizing dossiers for export seafood shipments. Competent agencies must mobilize staff and prepare funding to ensure the implementation of anti-IUU tasks.
Thereby, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development requested the Directorate of Fisheries to review the violations of some exporting enterprises which exported 7 tons of swordfish following the recent EC recommendation to have proper penalties as per the regulations.
Mr. Phung Duc Tien added that as per the Prime Minister's Official Letter, it is necessary to bring a criminal prosecution against IUU fishing offenders. These cases must be transferred to the Ministry of Public Security to handle them.
