Joint efforts help prevent IUU fishing
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./.