Southern localities work hard on fighting IUU fishing

Soldiers of the border guard station at Duong Dong sea port in Kien Giang province are actively in raising local fishermen's awareness of law implementation related to IUU fishing (Photo: VNA).

Ba Ria – Vung Tau (VNA) - Nguyen Van Tho, Chairmanof the People's Committee of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, chaired ameeting on December 11 with representatives of the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development and related departments and sectors todiscuss solutions to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

According to Director of the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development Huynh Son Thai, the enforcement of laws related to the problem inthe locality still lacks comprehension,the responsibility of organisations and individuals in performing the work remainslimited, and there are still delays in investigating, verifying and handling of cases in the field.  

The provincial People’s Committee requested relevant authorities to keep closecontrol of the fleet of fishing boats, including the total number of vessels,their registration, operational licences, installation of the Vessel MonitoringSystem (VMS), and informationupdates on the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase). 

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was demanded to collaboratewith relevant agencies to implement strictly the confirmation and certificationof the origin of aquatic products.

The deadline for completing all the tasks is no later than April 2024.

Over the recent times, border guards in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Gianghave taken a series of measure to combat IUU fishing as part of the efforts to have the European Commission (EC)’s “yellow card” warningagainst Vietnam’s seafood exports lifted.

Theprovincial Border Guard Command considers the work as a regular and importanttask, focusing on patrolling, inspecting, and controlling fishing vesselsentering and leaving ports with the engagement of thousandsof officers and soldiers.

It has also coordinated with CoastGuard Region 4 and Naval Region 5, the provincial fisheriessurveillance force, other relevant forces, and local authorities in supervising andsharing information on the situation to improve the effectiveness of thefight against IUU fishing.

Attentionhas been paid to strictly managing, inspecting, and controlling fishing vesselswith a "high risk" of violating foreign waters./.

VNA