Fishing vessels of Quang Ngai province (Photo: VNA) BinhChau commune, known for exploiting sea cucumbers, hawksbill turtles, and flyingfish, has more than 400 fishing vessels, of which 170 with 1,700workers often operate offshore. As its fishing ground is adjacent to the watersof some regional countries, the commune, located in Binh Son district, used to recordthe biggest number of vessels infringing in foreign waters.
However,since 2018, Quang Ngai has carried out drastic measures, including boostingcommunications and imposing heavy fines on violating fishermen. As a result, IUUfishing and infringements of foreign waters by Binh Chau vessels graduallyreduced and have been completely eradicated in 2022.
NguyenThanh Hung, Chairman of the Fisheries Trade Union of Binh Chau commune, saidthe increase of communications work has proved fruitful, evidenced by the fact that local fishermen are nowaware of the harms of foreign waters violations and they work only in the sea areasof Vietnam.
Themost fundamental solution to the IUU fishing problem is to raise fishermen’s awareness, soauthorities need to ramp up communications and education work while dealing withwrongdoings more strictly, he recommended.
Thepurpose is to promote fishermen’s sense of responsibility towards Vietnam’scommon efforts to persuade the European Commission to remove the “yellow card”warning, maintain sustainable livelihoods, and safeguard the nationalsovereignty, Hung added.
About98.6% of the fishing vessels of Quang Ngai have been equipped with monitoring systems.Since the start of 2022, the province hasn’t seen any boats detained by foreignauthorities.
NguyenVan Muoi, Director of the provincial sub-department for fisheries, saidfishermen and vessels’ infringement of foreign waters have been curbed, but notsustainably yet.
Healso pointed out shortcomings in fisheries infrastructure; resources, includingequipment, personnel, and funding, for anti-IUU fishing tasks; and the quality ofvessel monitoring systems.
Inthe coming time, Quang Ngai will press on with law enforcement by boostingpatrols and checks at sea, estuaries, and fishery ports to prevent IUUfishing, and also stringently handling violations.
Itwill also step up giving guidance to fishermen on vessel registrationprocedures, disseminating related laws and legal documents, and encouraging themaintenance of fishing activities at sea to help safeguard Vietnam’s maritimesovereignty without infringing in foreign waters, according to Vice Chairman ofthe provincial People’s Committee Tran Phuoc Hien./.
VNA
