Hanoi (VNA) – The north central province of Thanh Hoa has intensified inspections at sea and fishing ports while working with owners of vessels that violated regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as part of its efforts to clamp down on the illicit fishing.
During the January-July period, local authorities handled 80 violation cases, and levied a total fine of 967 million VND (over 38,300 USD) on local fishermen and boat owners who committed illegal acts.
A list of 306 fishing vessels with high risks of violations was made public at fishing ports, while those without necessary documents and vessel monitoring systems were banned from docking at the fishing ports.
Throughout examinations, the authorities found out several common mistakes of ship owners, including expire safe fishing vessel certificates, losing connection signals for over 10 days, and failing to buy insurance for crew members.
According to deputy head of the provincial department of fisheries Le Van Sang, the province will continue enhancing the communications work to raise public awareness of IUU regulations, and resolve to mete out strict punishments to any violations.
In the same vein, the central province of Quang Tri has worked to handle hundreds of fishing boats from 6 to 15 metres in length having no registration, no fishing licenses and no certificates proving their seaworthiness (three nos).
The provincial People’s Committee directed localities to tighten management over fishing vessels to ensure that there are no additional boats with “three-nos”./.
