The fishermen's solid support

The Coast Guard Region 2 Command has just completed a 10-day inter-agency patrol and control in the central coastal area. The inspection focused on compliance with legal regulations on preventing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; combined with understanding the difficulties, obstacles and legitimate needs of fishermen in the process of going offshore.

Diversify forms of IUU propaganda

In mid-April, despite big waves, Coast Guard ship 4038 still weighed anchor, crossed the ocean to bring the national flag to fishermen fishing at sea.

Seeing the inflatable boat of the working group approaching from afar, the captain of the ship BD 91423 TS Nguyen Thanh Nam (born in 1976, residing in Binh Dinh province) quickly reduced speed to pick up passengers. The ship was full of mullet and striped catfish. Mr. Nam said that because of the favorable tide, the boat caught a good catch, this trip was a bumper one.

Ship BD 91423 TS is one of many ships that ensure IUU regulations, especially the voyage monitoring equipment, fishing logs as well as the crew list of the voyage. Receiving the national flag and necessities from the Coast Guard soldiers, Mr. Nam emotionally said: "Amidst the waves, seeing the Coast Guard ship, we are confident because you are always by our side, supporting us wholeheartedly".

Crew member Nguyen Dinh Suu (72 years old, also from Binh Dinh province) said that the boat owner and crew members both clearly understand that the effort to remove the EC yellow card and IUU is a shared responsibility of the authorities and fishermen. Because when the EC yellow card is removed, seafood prices will increase and life will be more prosperous.

After 10 days of coordinating patrols, control, and law enforcement in the sea area from Quang Tri to Binh Dinh, the interdisciplinary working group directly inspected 47 fishing boats/324 fishermen operating at sea. Mr. Pham Quang Dung - expert of the Department of Fisheries of Quang Ngai province, member of the interdisciplinary team - said that in addition to this coordination, the local Department of Fisheries will also strengthen the inspection of 24/24 journey monitoring, compile a list of vessels that have disconnected their journeys for more than 10 days to report to the locality and coastal provinces and cities for coordination in handling.

Coast Guard Region 2 Command in coordination with Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper presented national flags to fishermen

More confidence in going offshore

Speaking with reporters of the Lao Dong Newspaper, Colonel Tran Hong Que, Deputy Political Commissar of the Coast Guard Region 2 Command, affirmed that the participation of the press in the inter-sectoral patrol, inspection, control and law enforcement trip directly reflected the proactive spirit and efforts of the Coast Guard officers and soldiers in performing their functions and tasks of protecting sovereignty, ensuring security and safety of the sea and islands of the Fatherland, and soon realizing the common goal of removing difficulties and obstacles and developing our country's fisheries industry in a stable, sustainable and effective manner.

"In particular, the program "Proud of the National Flag" of the Lao Dong Newspaper has contributed to improving the quality and effectiveness of the propaganda, dissemination and legal education work of the Coast Guard Region 2 Command. With many diverse forms of propaganda, it has helped raise awareness, responsibility, and change the behavior and habits of fishermen in complying with the law at sea, especially regulations on combating IUU fishing" - Colonel Tran Hong Que shared.

Colonel Tran Hong Que hopes that the cooperation between the unit and the Lao Dong Newspaper will become increasingly stronger so that more national flags, medical kits and gifts can be sent to fishermen in difficult circumstances to promptly encourage and help fishermen feel secure in going out to sea and commit to strictly obeying the law when working at sea.

Witnessing the image of the national flags being handed over on the homeland's sea, Mr. Nguyen Phu Ban, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Da Nang City, said: "Receiving the national flag, fishermen feel more secure because of the attention of the Party, the State, the armed forces, organizations and unions are always by their side, joining hands to protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands. I hope that the program "Proud of the National Flag" launched by the Lao Dong Newspaper will be deployed more widely, accompanying fishermen to stick to the sea, exploit and protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands".

From April 10 to 19, the Command of Coast Guard Region 2 coordinated with Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper to carry out the program "Proud of the National Flag", presenting 2,000 national flags from the component "Millions of national flags with fishermen at sea" to fishermen fishing in the sea from Binh Dinh to Quang Tri.

Source