The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requires localities to strictly monitor the fight against IUU fishing. (Photo: Vietnamplus) Hanoi (VNA) - The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on August 3 sent an urgent dispatch to coastal provinces and cities asking for continued strict implementation of drastic measures against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The ministry set out specific tasks, focusing on drastic measures to prevent fishing vessels and fishermen from exploiting seafood in foreign seas. Authorities need to investigate, verify, and thoroughly handle any violation discovered.
Localities are requested to conduct a general inspection and review all fishing vessels, their status (number of registered, inspected, licensed; number of unregistered, or expired fishing vessels). Those operating in areas outside the province; fishing vessels that have not installed VMS cruise monitoring equipment, must be monitored and handled for their violations according to the law.
Localities are responsible for strictly managing fishing vessels (Photo: Vietnamplus) Localities are to strictly control fishing vessels entering and exiting ports, and fishing vessels entering/exporting at border posts/stations; register, issue fishing licenses, fully update fishing vessel data into the national fisheries database (VNFishbase). It is also necessary to prevention and strictly handle unqualified fishing vessels, especially fishing vessels that do not comply with regulations on VMS cruise monitoring equipment participating in fishing activities.
The confirmation and certification of traceability of exploited aquatic products must ensure legality, ensuring 100% of fishing vessels dock at designated ports, monitoring 100% of locally exploited aquatic products.
MARD requests localities to direct law enforcement forces to join hands in patrols, inspections, and settlement of administrative violations in the fisheries sector; especially handling cases of illegal seafood exploitation in foreign waters, and violations of VMS regulations. Reports must be submitted to the ministry before September 30.
Localities are responsible for allocating resources for relevant local functional forces to control IUU fishing; arrange qualified, responsible staff and have appropriate awareness and guidance mechanisms and policies.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to carry out a comprehensive inspection in 28 coastal provinces and cities (Photo: Vietnamplus) Relevant agencies are also requested to organize specialized inspection and examination of enterprises buying exploited aquatic materials for processing and export to the European market; strictly handle organizations and individuals who intentionally violate and legalize export shipment records according to the laws.
The Department of Fisheries, the Department of Fisheries Surveillance and related agencies are requested to develop a plan and organize a comprehensive inspection in 28 coastal provinces and cities to screen and classify and handle according to the law the "3 no" fishing vessels. They are also requested to urgently complete procedures to submit to the Government for promulgation of Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP and Decree amending Decree No. 42/2019/ND-CP in August 2023./.
