Tracing the origin of aquatic products is one of four groups of recommendations that the European Commission (EC) will inspect when the delegation visits Vietnam for the fifth time next October. As the province's largest fishing port with nearly 1,000 fishing vessels and aquaculture service vessels regularly entering and leaving the port, the representative office for inspection, examination and control of fisheries at Cai Rong port is focusing on accelerating the implementation of tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products through the electronic system.
According to the EC's request, the traceability of aquatic products is not only to make information transparent in serving export needs but also to protect the interests of domestic consumers, helping the aquatic products industry develop sustainably, transparently, and responsibly towards the community. Since January 2024, the Department of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) has issued a document guiding localities to deploy the software of the Electronic Aquatic Product Traceability System (eCDT VN) from fishing ports, fishermen, captains, enterprises purchasing and processing aquatic materials to the departments and representative offices of fisheries control...
In order to help ship owners, captains, establishments, and enterprises purchasing, processing, and exporting aquatic products to use the eCDT System proficiently from the exploitation to the export of aquatic products, at the end of January 2024, the Department of Fisheries (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) coordinated with the Department of Fisheries to organize training and propaganda on the implementation of the above software system. In particular, focusing on implementing the electronic traceability of exploited aquatic products at the Representative Office for Inspection, Examination, and Control of Fisheries at Cai Rong Port.
Statistics from the beginning of February 2024 to mid-August 2024, the staff of the Office of Fisheries Inspection, Control and Supervision at Cai Rong Port guided and supported 668 ship owners and captains to complete electronic declaration procedures (accounting for 63% of the total number of fishing vessels actually arriving and departing from the port). Of which: 306 ships arrived at the port to unload exploited aquatic products, avoid the wind, repair engines, get fuel and food; 362 ships left the port; the electronically declared unloaded aquatic product output reached over 323 tons (accounting for 56% of the total unloaded aquatic product output through the port).
However, according to the Office of Fisheries Inspection, Control and Supervision at Cai Rong Port, after 6 months of implementing the eCDT System, there are still some limitations that affect the electronic declaration of fishermen. Typically, for vessels under 12m, the software still requires the entry of the captain's and chief engineer's certificate numbers. Meanwhile, according to current regulations, coastal fishing vessels are not required to have a captain's or chief engineer's certificate. This has resulted in only 4/3,570 coastal vessels under 12m carrying out electronic declaration procedures. In other cases, fishermen forget their passwords or lose their devices and cannot log in again; the level of fishermen is limited, and many captains and ship owners are illiterate, making it very difficult to carry out electronic declarations, especially for vessels that have just arrived at port and are initially making declarations. Some fishermen use black and white phones, so they cannot carry out electronic declarations either.
Faced with the above shortcomings and inadequacies, the Office of Fisheries Inspection, Control and Supervision at Cai Rong Port has reflected and requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Fisheries to promptly take measures to remove difficulties for coastal fishing vessels with a length of less than 12m. Particularly for the limitations related to the qualifications of fishermen, the unit will arrange staff to directly guide fishermen to follow the motto "holding hands, showing work", ensuring that the declaration rate reaches 100% in September 2024. For fishermen who are using black and white phones, the Office will provide smartphones with suitable configurations for people to use to make electronic declarations directly at the Office according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In addition to promoting the traceability of aquatic products through the electronic system at Cai Rong Port, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, together with localities, also needs to resolutely implement and require all fishing vessels entering and leaving ports at 10 fishing vessel control points in the province to comply. The synchronous implementation at fishing vessel control points will contribute to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, preparing the best conditions to work with the 5th EC Inspection Delegation in October 2024.
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