Kien Giang seeks to monitor fishing vessels

 

Kien Giang (VNA) – A seminar was held in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang on October 23 to discuss ways to manage and monitor fishing vessels.

Each year, the province accounts for 16 percent of the country’s total seafood output and nearly 40 percent of the Mekong Delta region’s. In the first nine months of this year, its seafood volume was estimated at 432,729 tonnes, up over 7 percent year-on-year.

Speaking at the event, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Tam said that most local fishing vessels in Kien Giang have been equipped with very high-frequency and high-frequency systems.

Vessels with engines of 90 horsepower and above have installed global positioning systems, fish finders, and remote control devices, while others with 400 horsepower engines have automatic identification systems, he said.

Every month, quarter, and year, the provincial Department of Fisheries partners with the district, communal, and municipal People’s Committees to update data on fishing vessels and report to the Directorate of Fisheries’ Information Management Centre regarding the registration of fishing vessels and local fishing licensing.

The province is home to over 4,000 fishing vessels with lengths of 15m and above which still need to be equipped with journey monitoring equipment. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development agreed to install Movimar equipment for about 600 fishing vessels with a length of 24m and above.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development offered suggestions to dealing with illegal fishing in line with the European Union’s regulations towards ending illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Accordingly, the Directorate of Fisheries needs to promptly issue guidelines on the parameters and technical standards for journey monitoring systems on fishing vessels. Meanwhile, the provincial People’s Committee should approve funding for the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s measures to end illegal fishing and upgrade its VX 1700 coastal station.

Provincial authorities were asked to allow eligible firms to pilot the installation of journey monitoring equipment on local offshore fishing vessels in November, and establish groups to inspect the technical standards and functions of the equipment during and after the pilot period.–VNA