Binh Thuan province works to halt illegal fishing

Binh Thuan province works to halt illegal fishing   (Photo: VNA)

Binh Thuan (VNA) – The south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan has undertaken a wide range of measures to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the locality as a part of the national efforts to remove the European Commission (EC)’s ‘yellow card’ warning against Vietnam’s seafood exports.

Under the plans, communication programmes continue to be enhanced to raise public awareness to IUU fishing. The communications call on local residents to observe the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, especially regulations on anti-IUU fishing and infringements of foreign waters.

Authorised units play an important role in persuading fishermen to install vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on their boats, monitoring, inspecting and controlling fishing vessel activities through VMS. They also grant certificates of production and traceability of aquatic products, and enforce fishing regulations and strictly handling violations.

Units update information on the national fisheries database VNfishbase and grant fishing and food safety licences to vessels in line with origin tracing regulations under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Local authorities require relevant units to closely manage the activity of local fishing vessels at sea and control ships entering and leaving ports. It has also intensified the monitoring of fishing catches and their origin, and strictly handled all violations of anti-IUU regulations.

In 2022, authorities disciplined 400 fishing vessels for violations, including electrofishing, unlicensed fishing and absence of signal of VMS, among other infringements./.