Ben Tre cracks down on fishing vessels violating foreign waters

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

Ben Tre (VNA) – Vice Chairman of the Ben Tre People’s Committee Nguyen Minh Canh has requested relevant departments, sectors, and districts in the Mekong Delta province to drastically crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in a bid to curb local vessels’ illegal operations in foreign waters.

Canh also asked the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Department increase its coordination in implementing the tasks of the fight against IUU fishing, and monitor the number of ships that are operating or have been stopped operations in Ben Tre province.

According to Colonel Nguyen Chi Quang, Commander of the Border Guard Command of Ben Tre, the force will continue its communications work on the issue among fishermen.

The province plans to intensify its inspection of ships operating at sea via the monitoring system, seriously tackle violators of the marine bordere, and maintain surveillance at seaports.

Ben Tre now has 2,000 fishing vessels installing monitoring devices. Since the beginning of 2021 to date, it recorded 2,971 times of ships losing monitoring signals, 1,644 ship arrivals at ports, and 2,704 times of vessels leaving the ports.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, IUU fishing prevention activities still face shortcomings, such as the slow handling of ships that lose monitoring signals and the lack of specialised inspectors./.

VNA