Binh Thuan working to tackle IUU fishing

Binh Thuan's fishing vessels (Photo: VNA)

Binh Thuan (VNA) - The south-centralprovince of Binh Thuan has asked localities to promptly complete theinstallation of Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) on all fishing vessels and acquire the necessary data as partof efforts to tackle illegal,unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The province asked its Fisheries Sub-Department tocoordinate closely with the border guard force and fisheries surveillanceforces to strengthen patrols and inspections to strictly manage the activitiesof fishing vessels. No vessel is to head offshore without a VMS.

The sub-department has also coordinated with theborder guard force and neighbouring localities to stop fishing vessels fromother provinces operating illegally in foreign waters.

According to the Binh Thuan Department of Agricultureand Rural Department, no fishing vessels or fishermen from the province have violatedforeign waters since July 2019.

As of February 2, nearly 93 percent of local fishingvessels had installed a VMS.

The European Commission (EC) gave a “yellow card”warning to Vietnam’s fisheries and seafood exports to Europein October 2017 due to IUU fishing concerns. The Government and localities haveintroduced a raft of measures to improve the situation./.

VNA