Joint efforts help prevent IUU fishing

Patrolling to inspect fishing boats at sea - Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Along with authorities of 28 coastal localities nationwide, relevant agencies and forces, including the Border Guards, have been actively promoting legal popularisation and education to raise fishermen's awareness on the fight against the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and the compliance with regulations regarding their offshore operation.

Law enforcement agencies have been stepping up inspections and imposing strict penalties on violations by Vietnamese fishing vessels to prevent and put an end to IUU fishing.

According to Thanh Hai Border Guard station in the south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan, the unit maintains 24/7 check and management of the vessel monitoring systems (VMS), thus providing timely assistance fishermen to address technical issues and take strict actions against violations.

Meanwhile, the force of the northern province of Thai Binh said during the peak of combating illegal fishing activities at sea, which will extend until later April this year, they continue to prioritise popularisation activities and focus on detecting and strictly handling vessel owners who violate IUU fishing regulations, in a bid to swiftly have the “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood lifted by the European Commission (EC).

The Border Guard High Command has implemented concerted measures and plans to review, classify, and closely manage violating vessels, and fishing boat groups in high risk of violating foreign water, thus detecting early signs and behaviours of IUU violations to promptly take measures for preventing and addressing them.

In 2023, the command coordinated with local authorities and relevant agencies to disseminate information to nearly 460,000 fishermen, and send messages to 2,357 mobile phone subscribers. Furthermore, 26,583 leaflets and 7,095 documents were also distributed.

The force has closely coordinated with relevant agencies such as the Coast Guards, Navy, and Police, as well as other authorised agencies to advise local authorities on inspecting and urging the implementation of tasks in combating IUU fishing.

Recently, the command, in collaboration with the Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), organised training sessions to guide the use of software for managing and controlling fishing vessels under a project implemented by border stations in the 28 coastal localities.

Thanks to such efforts, the number of Vietnamese fishing vessels violating foreign waters has been gradually decreasing each year./.