The war never stops

More than 6 years since the European Commission (EC) officially withdrew the “yellow card” for Vietnam in the field of seafood exploitation for violating the IUU principles, which is the program against “Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing”, the agricultural sector has had many positive changes. However, the fight against IUU fishing is a long story, not just to deal with the EC in the upcoming inspection.

In May 2017, the EC working group visited Vietnam to inspect compliance with EC regulations on IUU. Through the inspection, the working group made 5 recommendations, requiring that by September 30, 2017, Vietnam must complete its management system; manage fishing fleets in accordance with resources; complete the inspection and supervision system for fishing vessels at sea and at ports; verify and certify the origin of aquatic products; prevent and stop Vietnamese fishing vessels from illegally exploiting in foreign waters.

Binh Thuan boats (photo: N. Lan)

However, the improvement of the recommendations could not be completed at that time. Until now, after 7 years and 4 inspections by the EC, Vietnam has not been able to remove the “yellow card” (the inspections were in May 2018; November 2019; October 2022; October 2023). The EC is expected to organize the 5th inspection next October.

Of the 5 recommendations of the EC, Vietnam has so far completed the management system. For other groups of issues, to overcome them, the most important thing now is to propagate and improve the awareness of ship owners and captains, because their decisions when exploiting at sea are the factors leading to whether there is an IUU violation or not.

Strengthen propaganda and administrative inspection of fishing boats and fishermen at sea.

At the meeting of the IUU Steering Committee of Binh Thuan province on September 9, since the beginning of the year, functional forces and local authorities have sanctioned 372 administrative violations with a total fine of nearly 3 billion VND. Of which, the provincial Border Guard force sanctioned 258 cases/965.55 million VND; specialized agencies (Sub-Department of Fisheries, Inspectorate of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) sanctioned 75 cases/nearly 1.2 billion VND; local authorities sanctioned 39 cases/792.5 million VND (of which, the Provincial People's Committee sanctioned 2 cases/188 million VND; Tuy Phong district sanctioned 18 cases/415.5 million VND; Phan Thiet city sanctioned 3 cases/75 million VND; La Gi town sanctioned 10 cases/77.5 million VND; Phu Quy district sanctioned 6 cases/36.5 million VND). It can be seen that the amount of fines for IUU violations increases every year, which means the number of violations also increases over time. The above mentioned acts first of all originate from the implementation awareness of ship owners and captains.

Every year the amount of fines for IUU violations increases.

Or, up to now, there are still 228 vessels with a length of 12 meters or more that have not been registered and licensed for fishing according to Circular 06, which is a group of vessels at high risk of violating foreign waters. In addition, there are still 1,431 fishing vessels that have been registered but do not have or have expired licenses. Of which, Tuy Phong has 326 vessels; Bac Binh has 3 vessels; Ham Thuan Bac has 1 vessel; Phan Thiet has 435 vessels; Ham Thuan Nam has 21 vessels; La Gi has 406 vessels; Ham Tan has 5 vessels; Phu Quy has 234 vessels.

In addition, the situation of ships not docking at designated fishing ports to unload seafood according to regulations; ship owners and captains "not yet in the habit" of recording and submitting fishing logs as well as reporting on the seafood sales process; the situation of fishing vessels operating without registration, without or with expired fishing licenses... still occurs but has not been thoroughly handled. The work of controlling fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, monitoring output at ports, although there have been many efforts, the statistics are not yet reliable. Currently, only 28,332 tons/156,430 tons of the province's catch have been monitored (only reaching 18.1%).

Although there have been many efforts in monitoring the output at the wharf, the statistics are not yet reliable.

Since 2017, before each EC inspection, from the central to local levels, they have determined that “this is a golden opportunity to remove the “yellow card”, but each time they have missed the deadline. Will the seafood industry regain the IUU “Green Card” this time? The answer remains open, because it depends a lot on the parties, the efforts of the functional sector and the awareness of fishermen, captains, and those who directly exploit seafood at sea.

Ship owners and captains must be raised to be aware of the correct implementation of regulations in seafood exploitation and fishing. (Photo: N. Lan)

It must be admitted that the EC's regulations on combating IUU are a very positive thing, to protect resources and sustainable operations for the fisheries industry, protect the environment... and the ultimate goal is for the long-term livelihood of people who depend on seafood exploitation. Therefore, at the meeting of the Provincial IUU Steering Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai emphasized: "The functional sector has created all conditions to propagate, support, and help fishermen and ship owners to register "3 no" vessels. In cases of non-compliance, it is necessary to make a list of fishing vessels and send it to the functional forces to coordinate with the ward and commune to monitor, not allowing them to leave port to operate, strictly punishing violations, ensuring that by September 15, the group of "3 no" vessels from 6 - 12 m completes 100% of the registration".

Regardless of whether the IUU “yellow card” is removed this time, ship owners and captains must be raised to be aware of the correct implementation of regulations in fishing and exploitation, not only for the benefit of the nation and locality, but first and foremost for their own benefit and the sustainable livelihood of the fishing community. Therefore, fighting IUU is a never-ending battle!

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/chong-khai-thac-iuu-cuoc-chien-khong-ngung-nghi-124022.html