Thanh Hoa cracks down on illegal fishing vessels to curb IUU fishing

 Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)

Thanh Hoa (VNA) – The north central province of Thanh Hoa has been taking drastic measures to crack down on illegal fishing vessels, especially those without registration and fishing licences or those without certificates that prove their seaworthiness (vessels with 3 NOs).

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province now still has 70 vessels with 3 NOs.

In addition, a total of 359 local vessels are found to have their vessel monitoring systems (VMS) disconnected while at sea for over ten days and 697 vessels do not have enough required papers or have their VMS disconnected for over six months.

Nguyen Xuan Duong, head of the provincial Fisheries Sub-department, said that the province has launched a month-long campaign to tackle shortcomings in implementing measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The sub-department is coordinating with People's Committees of coastal districts, towns, cities, and competent forces to inspect all fishing vessels and verify vessels with expired or no registration or those without fishing licences, food safety certificates or active monitoring devices.

It also coordinates with the border guard force to conduct patrol, inspect and control seafood exploitation activities at sea, beaches, and fishing ports and strictly handle violations, especially "3 NOs" fishing vessels.

All fishing vessels arriving at or leaving ports for fishing are required to have sufficient procedures, records, papers and active VMS for those with a length of 15m or more.

In 2023, the province recorded 359 fishing vessels losing VMS connection for ten days or more. After verifying, authorities imposed administrative penalties of 61 million VND (nearly 2,500 USD) on ten cases for disconnecting VMS for a long time. Other 92 cases got fines of more than 1.6 billion VND for violating Fisheries Law./.