IUU combat: Changes seen in fishermen’s awareness of sustainable fisheries

Quang Nam (VNA) – Tam Hai island commune in Nui Thanh district, the central province of Quang Nam, which owns the strongest fishing boat fleet in Quang Nam, has seen a considerable change in local fishermen’s awareness of fisheries regulations and the prevention and combat of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing thanks to effective communications efforts of local authorities.

Nguyen Huu Khoa, Chairman of the Tam Hai Fisheries Union, said that offshore fishing has been a spearhead economic sector of the locality.

The union has 22 fishing vessels with a capacity of 820-1,000CV. In the first nine months of this year, the offshore fishing output of Tam Hai fetched 4,500 tonnes, completing 85% of the yearly target, he said.

Khoa said that all the seafood exploited by Tam Hai fishermen is guaranteed to be legal, have transparent origin of the fishing ground, fishing time, means of exploitation, and preservation equipment.

This is a result of a process of encouraging local fishermen to fully implement regulations in IUU fishing prevention and control, underlined Khoa.

Huynh Van Tam, owner of fishing vessel coded QNa 90667 TS of Tam Hai commune's Thuan An village, said that before leaving and after returning to the port for selling seafood, all vessels, offshore or near-shore fishing, must pass through the border checkpoint and fully comply with the requirements set forth by the authorities.

Thanks to many communications campaigns on IUU fishing prevention and control, so far, all locals in his village are highly aware of the negative impacts of IUU fishing on the fisheries resources and their own livelihood, said Tam.

Meanwhile, Nguyen The Hung, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tam Hai, said that the locality has defined sustainable and environmentally-friendly fisheries as a major economic development direction.

In many years, instead of increasing the number of offshore fishing vessels, the commune has focused on improving the vessels’ capacity, modernising equipment and seafood preservation devices, he said.

Local fishing vessels have installed modern communication devices as well as the vessel monitoring system (VMS), he said, underlining that for many years, no violation of fishing regulations has been seen among local fishermen and fishing vessels.

Head of the Quang Nam Sub-Department of Fisheries Vo Van Long said that the province has a large fishing ground, tens of thousands of marine workers, and the marine economy has become a key economic sector of the locality. Therefore, implementing IUU fishing prevention and control measures is considered an extremely important task of the locality, which has received special attention of the local authorities and fishermen as part of efforts to remove the European Commission (EC)’s “yellow card” warning on Vietnam’s fisheries industry, he stated.

According to Long, Quang Nam is home to 2,700 fishing vessels of all kinds. All 1,378 vessels with a length from 12m managed by the sub-department have finished registration, while 98% fishing vessels with a length from 15m have installed VMS, and the remaining are under maintenance. This is an important condition for Quang Nam to improve the efficiency of its efforts to prevent and combat IUU fishing, said the official./.