
A delegationfrom the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) examined its implementation of the European Commission (EC)’srecommendations about IUU fishing prevention on August 23.
Speakingat the meeting with local officials, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien highlyvalued Tra Vinh’s efforts in carry out different solutions to weaknesses andshortcomings related to IUU fishing.
Theprovince now records no fishing vessels or fishermen infringing foreign waters,local authorities said.
About95% of the 1,141 local fishing vessels have been licensed. Up to 234 of the 264vessels that are 15 metres long and over subject to vessel monitoring systeminstallation have been equipped with the system, while the remaining 30 stoppedoperations.
TraVinh has stepped up inspection and examination of the exploitation andprotection of fishery resources. Since the year’s beginning, authoritiesexamined 179 vessels and fined 16 cases nearly 190 million VND (8,100 USD) for administrativeviolations.
Fishingports’ management boards have also complied with regulations on material certification,seafood loading, fishing-related documents, and ship arrival and departure examination.
TheMARD delegation said granting fishing licenses is crucial, so local authoritiesneed to step up licensing the remaining 58 fishing vessels. The province shouldalso work to repair or eliminate the 30 ships that have stopped working.
NguyenTrung Hoang, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, proposedministries and central agencies open training courses to help the cadresworking on IUU fishing prevention improve their capacity.
Healso called on the MARD to assist Tra Vinh to carry out a project on upgradingthe Dinh An fishing port in Tra Cu district and another on industrial shrimpfarming in Duyen Hai district. The two projects are part of a project ondeveloping essential infrastructure facilities for climate adaptation inagriculture in the Mekong Delta.
Hometo a 65km coastline, Tra Vinh posted 222,527 tonnes of fishery output in 2021,including 151,442 tonnes from aquaculture and another 71,085 tonnes fromfishing. It looks to raise the output to 235,115 tonnes this year, including 63,545tonnes from fishing./.