Vietnamese fishing boats at sea (Photo: VNA) Khanh Hoa (VNA) - The central province of KhanhHoa has been implementing various measures to curb illegal, unreported andunregulated (IUU) fishing, as recommended by the European Commission (EC).
From 2018 to date, the province has organised 69communications campaigns to raise awareness among ship owners on the Law onFisheries 2017 and anti-IUU fishing. As a result, owners and captains of allthe 768 off-shore vessels in Khanh Hoa have signed commitments, saying no toillegal fishing on foreign waters. In the first seven months of this year,there were no reports on local fishermen entering foreign waters.
Local authorities also set up four representative officesfor inspection of fishing activities in Hon Ro, Da Bac, Vinh Luong, and DaiLanh ports.
Since their establishment in April 2018, the offices have sofar checked 9,500 arrivals and departures. They have also issued certificatesof origin verification for 878 export batches.
Meanwhile, tracking devices have been installed on a totalof 58 fishing vessels, including 24 ships measuring 24 metres and above inlength.
However, the latest examination of the local anti-IUU workby a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development onAugust 9 still found shortcomings. They included incorrect statistics on shiparrivals/departures, incomplete origin verification process, and messy datacollection by port management boards.
In response to the assessment outcomes, Dao Cong Thien, ViceChairman of the provincial People’s Committee, assigned the local Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies to make improvementsand apply technologies for data archive.
On October 23, 2017, the EC issued a "yellow card"warning to Vietnam, after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progressin the fight against IUU fishing.
Countries that fail to meet EC standards are given a"yellow card", followed by a "green card" if the problemsare resolved, or a "red card" if they are not. A red card can lead toa trade ban on fishery products.
An EC working delegation will visit Vietnam in earlyNovember to inspect the country’s implementation of the recommendations, withKhanh Hoa predicted to be among its destinations.-VNA
VNA
