On January 14, the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) held its 12th online conference with 28 coastal provinces and cities. Comrade Tran Hong Ha, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the National Steering Committee on IUU chaired the conference. Attending at the Quang Ninh province bridge were Comrade Nghiem Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and relevant departments and branches.
After The 11th National Steering Committee on IUU took place in October 2024. Up to now, the recommendations of the European Commission have been actively addressed by relevant ministries, branches and coastal localities of Vietnam. Localities have applied information technology to manage fishing fleets, digitized data for monitoring, management, updating and have basically completed the handling of "3 no" fishing vessels. The application of information technology to monitor and control the monitoring of seafood output unloaded through ports; electronic traceability to ensure transparency and legality for export shipments to the European market that do not violate IUU has been well implemented. As of January 6, 2025, 84,536 fishing vessels nationwide have been reviewed and counted, of which the number of registered fishing vessels updated on VN-Fishbase is 83,648 (reaching 98.9%), with valid fishing licenses granted to fleets of 15 meters or more: 25,942/28,728, reaching 90.3%.
The work of tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products has been implemented more strictly than before. Up to now, the whole country has not detected any cases of IUU violations for shipments exported to the European market . Law enforcement, criminal handling, and administrative sanctions have been resolutely implemented by localities, creating a strong change in deterrence and education in the fishing community. The situation of fishing vessels and fishermen violating illegal fishing in foreign waters has decreased significantly. Localities have prosecuted 32 service Criminal cases related to the acts of brokerage, collusion, illegal exit to bring fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit seafood in foreign waters; sending and transporting VMS equipment, legalizing IUU violations.
Although illegal fishing violations in foreign waters have decreased significantly after the implementation of Resolution No. 04/2024, there are still violations. There are still 888 "3 no" fishing vessels nationwide, concentrated in the Central and Southern provinces. The extension and issuance of fishing licenses according to regulations are still slow, the rate of granting valid fishing licenses for vessels of 6 meters or more has so far only reached 76.5%. The results of verification and handling of violations of VMS disconnection, exceeding permitted boundaries at sea, and illegal fishing in foreign waters are still very low compared to the detected cases.
In Quang Ninh, up to now, 100% of fishing vessels in the province (5,556/5,556 vessels) have been put under management. Controlling the output at the port, declarations at communes and wards have reached 86.7% of the output. Patrolling, controlling and handling violations at sea have been strengthened by the forces. Since the beginning of 2024, the whole province has detected and handled 481 cases of violations, fined 5,086.8 million VND, of which 03 cases have been criminally prosecuted and 01 case is being processed due to re-offending the use of electric pulses to exploit aquatic resources.
Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Head of the National Steering Committee on IUU, directed ministries, branches and localities to focus on seriously and effectively implementing Directive No. 32-CT/TW of the Secretariat, Resolution No. 52/NQ-CP of the Government and the instructions of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to ensure progress, results and specific products to prove at the 5th inspection by the EC.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the current management of fishing fleets is still administrative and lacks initiative, so it is necessary to apply science and technology to management. He assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to take the lead in building a shared database to serve the management of fishing fleets by fishing grounds and sea space, which must be completed in the first quarter of this year and must issue regulations on the use of shared data. Relevant ministries and sectors need to review legal regulations to strictly handle violations. Develop management tools and specify fishing seasons to protect and restore Vietnam's aquatic resources not only in offshore areas but also in offshore and coastal areas. Strengthen inspection and examination of purchasing and processing establishments for export and strictly handle cases of legalizing the origin of aquatic products.
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