Resolutely remove 3 "bottlenecks" in EC recommendations

The European Commission (EC) has decided to postpone the 5th inspection of Vietnam on the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to October this year. The EC wants to review the implementation of law enforcement when it learns that Vietnam has just issued 2 new Decrees that will take effect from May 19, 2024.

However, if the regulations are not fully complied with, the "yellow card" will not be removed. Or, if compliance is only temporary, the risk of being "red carded" is also inevitable. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that this is the last opportunity for our country to remove the IUU "yellow card". The EC highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts to implement the EC's recommendations during the 4th inspection in October 2023. However, it is necessary to prevent and handle the situation of fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters and be more drastic in sanctioning violations of IUU fishing, especially violations of disconnecting VMS. At the same time, it is urgent to synchronously and uniformly deploy the electronic traceability system for exploited aquatic products (eCDT).

*Combating IUU fishing is an urgent task, widely deployed from the central to local levels.*

Recently, the Secretariat issued Directive No. 32-CT/TW dated April 10, 2024 on strengthening the Party's leadership in IUU fishing and sustainable development of the fisheries sector, affirming the commitment, determination and efforts of the entire political system from the central to local levels in perfecting the institutional system in accordance with international practices. After the inspections, the EC said that all of the EC's recommendations and prohibitions on IUU fishing were included in the 2017 Fisheries Law, but the level of enforcement in localities was still limited. The EC pointed out that from the 4th inspection to April 30, 2024, Vietnam had only sanctioned 14/144 vessels with a length of 24 meters or more that had lost connection for more than 10 days and did not return to shore (only reaching 9.7%). Some provinces have a large number of disconnected ships but the penalty rate is very low, such as: Quang Ngai (1/36 ships); Nghe An (1/33 ships); Thanh Hoa (0/18 ships); Ben Tre (1/9 ships); Kien Giang (5/13 ships), Quang Nam (1/9 ships), Binh Thuan (0/3 ships), Ba Ria - Vung Tau (0/3 ships), Tien Giang (2/4 ships)... For ships from 15 meters to under 24 meters, the penalty rate is only about 10%. For fishing vessels 24 meters or longer that lose connection signal for 6 hours to 10 days at sea and do not periodically report their position as prescribed, as of April 30, 2024, 6,717 violations have been detected, but only 5 have been punished... Therefore, the EC recommends that Vietnam seriously and systematically enforce the law and unify punishment plans nationwide, all detected violations must be punished, without exception.

*Authorities inspect fishing boats at sea in Binh Thuan.*

Faced with that situation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has submitted a document to the Government and the Prime Minister to implement Directive No. 32-CT/TW of the Secretariat, emphasizing solutions to best implement the 3 "bottlenecks" that make it difficult to remove the IUU yellow card. These are fishing vessels violating foreign waters, fishing vessels disconnecting navigation equipment and unregistered vessels. Regarding the 3 "bottlenecks" mentioned by the EC, Binh Thuan is one of the localities that has implemented quite well, as it was the pioneer province to issue Directive 30 related to the fight against IUU fishing since 2018. Over the past 6 years, the province's functional branches have persevered, made efforts and determined to make the province's fishing industry both a strength and develop in a sustainable and responsible manner, gradually moving away from traditional fishing methods.

seafood-processing-for-export-anh-n.-lan-5-.jpg — *Seafood processing for export is one of the province's strengths. (Photo: N. Lan)*

Regarding the control of foreign fishing vessels violating the law, the province has compiled a list of fishing vessels and fishermen violating foreign waters to publicly announce on mass media and organize reviews before the community. For high-risk fishing vessels, they are put under special management and monitoring. In addition, 100% of the installation of VMS equipment has been completed and data has been used to monitor and supervise fishing vessels operating at sea. In addition, the province has seriously implemented a peak period of general inspection, statistics, classification, and screening of "3 no" fishing vessels to each village and commune in the province's coastal areas, while resolutely implementing the registration, inspection, and issuance of fishing licenses. Therefore, Binh Thuan is also one of the pioneering provinces to complete the temporary registration of a large number of "3 no" vessels, as the province has the largest number of "3 no" vessels in the country with more than 2,000. Notably, Binh Thuan has not detected any cases of fishing vessels sending/hiding their tracking devices while operating at sea. Regarding the loss of VMS connection, the province has reviewed and closely monitored violations and will strictly handle them according to regulations. According to the new regulations, those who turn off their tracking devices will be severely fined from 500 to 700 million VND to increase deterrence, and vessels will no longer be able to cover their rice cookers or devices, or disconnect them to evade this regulation.

This is considered a great effort and determination of the province to join hands with the whole country to remove the "yellow card" for IUU seafood in this period. Removing the "yellow card" is not to cope with, not to meet the requirements of the EC, but the larger purpose is a long-term solution to protect aquatic resources, ecological environment, guide fishermen and businesses to be aware and responsible in exploitation and production and business activities, towards developing a responsible and sustainable fishery.

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