Binh Dinh resolutely attaches responsibility to leaders in managing fishing vessels

Include in competition and reward criteria

Phu Cat is a district with a large number of fishing vessels in Binh Dinh province. According to statistics, there are 697 fishing vessels in the district, of which 430 are 15m or longer, 254 are 12 to under 15m long, and 13 are under 12m long. 100% of fishing vessels 15m or longer have been installed with voyage monitoring equipment.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of Phu Cat District People's Committee, informed that all fishing boats in Phu Cat district are assigned to cadres and party members directly in charge.

Officials and party members must regularly grasp the situation, share, propagate and mobilize ship owners, captains and ship owners' families not to take fishing boats to exploit seafood in foreign waters; at the same time, fully carry out related procedures and documents before going to sea.

fishing boat 1.jpg — The whole Binh Dinh province has 5,651 registered fishing boats with a length of 6m or more. (Photo: Diem Phuc)

High-risk ships are assigned prestigious cadres and party members with propaganda capacity to directly take charge of one ship to monitor and manage, and not let the ship illegally exploit seafood.

Heads of local Party committees and authorities, officials and Party members assigned to be in charge of fishing vessels will be held responsible if fishing vessels violate the law.

In early 2023, Phu Cat district had 2 fishing boats and 11 fishermen from Cat Tien town who were caught by Malaysia for illegal fishing. The district organized a review of the leaders of the local Party Committee and government of Cat Tien town and the party members assigned to be in charge of this fishing boat. At the same time, the owner and captain of the fishing boat who violated the law were reviewed in front of the community. Since then, there have been no more fishing boats violating foreign waters in the district.

“Heads of local Party committees and authorities, cadres and party members assigned to take charge of fishing vessels and related individuals will all be held accountable if violations occur. This will create deterrence and accountability for each individual and locality,” said Mr. Hung.

In addition to assigning cadres and party members to be in charge of each fishing boat, Phu Cat district also regularly organizes propaganda for boat owners and captains; builds visual propaganda panels in commune, town and village centers; and distributes thousands of leaflets with EC recommendations.

At the same time, many officials were sent to join the province's inter-sectoral working group to the southern provinces to directly meet and propagate to local fishermen to bring their boats to exploit in the southern fishing grounds, and not bring their boats back to their localities every year.

fishing boat 2.jpg — Quy Nhon fishing port. (Photo: Diem Phuc)

Review, carry out registration, inspection, and issuance of fishing licenses according to regulations; manage unregistered fishing vessels. In addition, propose to deregister fishing vessels that have been registered and inspected but are no longer in the locality (vessels that have sunk, rotted, damaged, sold but not deregistered,...).

For fishing vessels that have been registered but have not been licensed to exploit aquatic products, the District People's Committee directs agencies, units and localities to urgently mobilize ship owners to complete licensing procedures.

“We direct the People's Committees of communes to coordinate with relevant units to propagate against prohibited fishing practices (electric shock, nets, etc.); encourage people to switch to more suitable occupations and establish a working group to regularly patrol, control and handle,” said Mr. Hung.

Enhance solutions

According to statistics, Binh Dinh province has 5,328 registered fishing vessels with a length of 6m or more, of which 3,255 have a length of 15m or more operating offshore.

Currently, 100% of fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more participating in seafood exploitation (3,233 vessels) are equipped with voyage monitoring equipment according to regulations. The location and anchorage of 22 fishing vessels that are stranded due to damage have been determined for strict management and control, preventing fishing activities.

fishing boat 3.jpg — Fishing vessels entering and leaving the port are monitored for output, making it easy to trace their origins. (Photo: DP)

Mr. Tran Van Phuc, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Dinh province, said that the locality is taking drastic measures to end illegal, unreported, and unregulated seafood exploitation.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, together with agencies, departments and localities, regularly organize visits to each household to propagate, mobilize and require ship owners and captains to sign a commitment not to violate foreign waters and not to violate IUU fishing.

According to Mr. Phuc, with the determination to prevent and end the situation of fishing vessels illegally exploiting aquatic resources in the waters of other countries, the People's Committee of Binh Dinh province also directed to resolutely handle the owners and captains of fishing vessels that violate the law.

“The violators will be publicly condemned for their actions locally and the list of IUU fishing vessel owners nationwide will be made public. Restrict and stop the owners from resuming fishing activities. Consider administrative sanctions, and cases of repeat violations or organized violations will be criminally prosecuted,” said Mr. Phuc.

Happiness

Source