Phu Yen province – bright spot in IUU fishing combat hinh anh 1The coastal province of Phu Yen is one of the localities with large fishing boat fleets in the south-central region. (Photo: VNA)
Phu Yen (VNA) - The coastal province of Phu Yen, one of the localities with large fishing boat fleets in the south-central region, has seen no violations of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing regulations over the past nearly five years.

The achievement is attributable to a range of solutions rolled out concertedly in the province to raise public awareness of the matter, contributing to accelerating the removal of the European Commission (EC)'s “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood.

The provincial People’s Committee reported that up to 98.6% of the 1,925 fishing boats in the province have installed vessel monitoring systems (VMS) in line with a government decree.

Local competent agencies are urging the installation for the remainders, and taking measures to handle wrongdoings, including contact cut-off at sea and unreported fishing.

The provincial fisheries sub-department’s IUU fishing monitoring teams conducted 226 inspections, and detected three cases of violations, which were fined over 10 million VND (414 USD) so far this year.

Forces from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and border guards have also joined the efforts against IUU fishing.

Most recently, the province coordinated with the Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard Region 2 in an inspection over more than 20 fishing vessels, and found that most of which have followed the regulations.

To further support local fishermen, Phu Yen organised five conferences on IUU fishing combat, and delivered an appeal letter by the Chairman of the People’s Committee, calling on them to fight IUU fishing, among other activities. /.
VNA