Illegal exploitation of seafood in foreign waters can be fined up to 1 billion VND

Fishermen in Nui Thanh district check and supervise the journey on their fishing boats before going out to sea. Photo: Q.VIET

Accordingly, fishing vessels with a length of 24m or more that do not keep a log of seafood exploitation; do not accurately record the requirements of the fishing organization; or report incorrectly when exploiting seafood will be fined from 500 million to 700 million VND.

The act of exploiting seafood in the waters of a foreign country or territory without a seafood exploitation license will be fined from 800 million to 1 billion VND.

Notably, Decree No. 38 has added the authority to impose penalties to the forest rangers. The reason for the addition is to ensure that administrative violations of aquatic resource protection in national parks and conservation areas are detected promptly and handled according to regulations.

In addition, agencies and individuals with the authority to sanction administrative violations are allowed to use professional technical means and equipment to detect administrative violations in the activities of exploiting aquatic resources, protecting aquatic resources and aquaculture.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien during a previous inspection on removing the "yellow card" on seafood in Quang Nam. Photo: Q.VIET

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that Decree No. 38 increases the statute of limitations for administrative violations in the fisheries sector to 2 years while still maintaining strict sanctions for repeated or recidivist administrative violations.

Accordingly, turning off the GPS tracking device (GSHT) many times is an aggravating circumstance. Fishing vessels that do not maintain the transmission of information from the GPS tracking device on the fishing vessel to the fishing vessel monitoring system as prescribed or disable the GPS tracking device on the fishing vessel or do not have a GPS tracking device on a fishing vessel with a length of 24m or more will be fined from 300-500 million VND, and if they re-offend, they will be fined up to 700 million VND.

Source