A conference was held in the central coastal city of Da Nang on September 19 to review the 10-year implementation of the Vietnam-China Agreement on Fishery Cooperation in the Tonkin Gulf.

According to a report delivered at the event, in the past decade Vietnamese ministries, sectors and localities worked closely to realise the agreement by mapping out implementation plans and educating fishermen on the document.

Offices executing and supervising the enforcement of the agreement of the two countries have coordinated in maintaining fishery activities as well as security and order at sea. The granting of operation licence to fishing boats has abided by the agreement’s stipulations. The two countries’ fishermen have generally fully complied with the inspection and surveillance of patrol forces of both sides.

At the conference, representatives of the fishermen community proposed Vietnamese surveillance forces strengthen their presence at the areas near the demarcation line in the Gulf of Tonkin in order to timely assist Vietnamese fishermen when any problems arise.

In the time to come, ministries and sectors involved will set up a hotline to deal with unexpected incidents at sea and invest to upgrade fishery logistics facilities as part of efforts to continue to implement the agreement.-VNA