Fisherman provided with knowledge on fishing-related laws (Source: VNA) Rome (VNA) – The Vietnamese Government’s decision on July 9 to jointhe Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) of the UN Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO) to prevent and fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated(IUU) fishing has received positive response from the FAO Committee onFisheries (COFI) and the international community.
The statement was made by Nguyen Ngoc Oai, GeneralDirector of the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development, in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on thesidelines of the 33rd COFI session held at the FAO’s headquarters inRome, Italy, from July 9-13.
The move was of more significance as it was announcedduring the COFI’s regular session in front of FAO leaders and representativesof member states, Oai said.
COFI leaders and delegates highly evaluatedVietnam’s decision, affirming that it demonstrated the country’s responsible commitmentsto international issues towards the sustainable development of fishery, hestressed.
According to the official, with its participation inPSMA – the first important international agreement on fishery, Vietnam willfocus on building legal frameworks, intensifying management over foreign shipsand imported seafood, increasing information exchange between parties involvedand strengthening monitoring over offshore fishing.
The Government assigned the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development to coordinate with relevant agencies in implementing theagreement in line with current regulations.
Adopted by FAO member countries in 2009, theagreement took effect on June 5, 2016. It was assessed to be a turning point inthe fight against law violations in the fisheries sector.
As of May 2018, PSMA had been joined by 54 nationsand the European Union (EU), of which the EU, the US and Japan are Vietnam’simportant seafood export markets.
COFI, a subsidiary body of the FAO Council, wasestablished by the FAO Conference at its 13th Session in 1965.
The committee presently constitutes the only globalinter-governmental forum where major international fisheries and aquacultureproblems and issues are examined and recommendations addressed to governments,regional fishery bodies, NGOs, fishworkers, FAO and international community,periodically on a world-wide basis.-VNA
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