📝 OP-ED: Vietnamese coastal localities take long-term efforts to end IUU fishing

HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam’s 28 coastal localities are continuing to strengthen the efforts they have taken in the recent five years to prevent and combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing at a hope to put an end to all related violations by the end of March this year.

Right from the beginning of this year, the south-central province of Ninh Thuan has rolled out drastic measures to popularise legal regulations on IUU fishing prevention and control among the local fishermen, securing safety during their operations at sea.

Dang Van Tin, head of the Ninh Thuan Fisheries Sub-Department, said the province plans to organise 10 training courses for about 600 fishermen to provide them with legal knowledge. It will strictly control their operations at sea and ports, and handle violations, he said.

Meanwhile, the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau is also carrying out an IUU fishing combat campaign with the coordination from relevant agencies.

A representative of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that legal fisheries regulations have been popularised to local fishermen through the mass media and the delivery of leaflets and legal handbooks.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Binh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and head of the Steering Committee on IUU Fishing Prevention and Control of the Ministry of National Defence, said that over the years, units under the Navy and the Vietnam Coast Guard have deployed forces and vessels to perform IUU fishing prevention and control activities, asking 844 Vietnamese fishing boats heading to foreign waters to return to Vietnamese waters to avoid committing violations of the Fisheries Law.

In order to successfully complete the 180-day campaign on IUU fishing combat and get ready to welcome an inspection team from the European Commission in March, many localities are supporting their fishermen to finalise legal procedures to enable them to operate at sea.

Nguyen Minh Canh, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ben Tre province, said that the majority of local fishermen have shown strong performance in implementing IUU fishing prevention and control regulations, including the installation of vessel monitoring system (VMS) on the boats, making boat registration and operational logs.

Southern Ben Tre province is one of the localities with the highest number of fishing boats and fishermen. Over the past many years, the province has not issued new licences for building boats using raking nets, while cancelling the registration of 402 vessels that are out of use.

Le Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ben Tre, said that the IUU fishing combat is also part of the province’s efforts to protect the value and reputation of its fisheries products.

The province has provided various support to owners of vessels that show strong performance in the work, while publising the names of those with violations on the media./.