Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Kien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang will intensify measures to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing ahead of the fifth working round with the inspection delegation from the European Commission (EC) in April.
It is part of the efforts to have the EC’s “yellow card” warning against Vietnam’s seafood exports lifted.
The province will drastically prevent fishing vessels from violating foreign waters and illegally fishing, resolutely handle any violators in this regard as well as those without the vessel monitoring system (VMS) connections. It will also improve the efficiency of law enforcement and the responsibility of organisations and individuals involved in investigating, verifying and handling IUU fishing.
According to Le Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, the province asked the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to inspect and establish an information channel to manage all fishing vessels in the locality.
The department was ordered to strictly handle fishing vessels that do not register or have no licence and registration as well as those that are not eligible for fisheries exploitation. It must supervise all fishing boats operating at sea via VMS, ensuring that 100% of vessels with a length of 15m or more must have all the required documents and VMS equipment installed.
The provincial Border Guard Command was tasked with inspecting and controlling fishing vessels entering and leaving border checkpoints as well as exchanging information with other localities to prevent and deal with IUU fishing promptly.
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that at present, 99.3% operating fishing vessels in Kien Giang are equipped with the VMS device.
Last year, 16 cases of fishing vessels encroaching on foreign waters were reported in the province. Of these, five have been fined a total of 5.6 billion VND (229 million USD). Local authorities have also seized six vessels./.
