The closer the coordination, the more effective the fight against IUU fishing

2024 is a very important and decisive year for the fisheries sector in particular and the whole country in general in removing the "Yellow Card" warning of the European Commission (EC) for Vietnamese fisheries. Therefore, many important and urgent tasks have been set by the Provincial People's Committee, especially in the period up to April 30, 2024, to prepare to welcome and work with the EC Inspection Delegation to inspect Vietnam for the 5th time.

There are many changes

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial Border Guard Command are the two core forces, playing the leading role in this work. Therefore, the two sectors have closely coordinated, synchronously and resolutely implemented solutions to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing with the desire to control and prevent fishing vessels and fishermen from absolutely violating the exploitation of foreign waters.

In recent years, thanks to the high consensus from the leaders of the two sectors to their affiliated units, the work of preventing and combating IUU fishing has had many positive changes. In 2023, the fisheries management agencies under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with units under the Border Guard Command to promote propaganda and widely disseminate legal regulations, focusing on the 2017 Fisheries Law, Decree 26/2019/ND-CP, Decree 42/2019/ND-CP, and contents on preventing and combating IUU fishing. In particular, focusing on fishing vessels operating offshore, occupational groups at risk of violating legal regulations on IUU fishing, and installing voyage monitoring equipment.

The whole province has completed 100% of the installation of VMS equipment. Photo: N.Lan

The Department of Fisheries has coordinated with localities to organize 15 propaganda classes for thousands of fishermen to attend, distributed thousands of leaflets of all kinds and propaganda keychains, and sent 20 text messages with 75,464 successful messages to ship owners and captains in the province. The Provincial Border Guard Command has also organized 872 propaganda sessions, distributed 300 billboards, posters and more than 4,500 leaflets to border posts to carry out propaganda work related to the fight against IUU fishing. Through propaganda work, it has contributed to raising awareness among the people, contributing to limiting violations in fishing activities. In addition, the work of registration, inspection and installation of VMS equipment has also been closely coordinated by the two forces. Thereby, the work of registration, inspection, ensuring safety for people and fishing vessels operating at sea has changed positively. Up to now, the whole province has 1,948/1,948 fishing vessels with a length of 15 meters or more in operation that have installed VMS, reaching 100%.

Promote fishing vessel monitoring system.

Determined to remove the "yellow card"

In recent times, the Fisheries Surveillance Force and the Border Guard have focused on patrolling, controlling, detecting and handling violations of aquatic resources protection, fishing vessel management and security and order at sea. Establishing records to penalize fishing vessels that violate IUU fishing such as: Not maintaining VMS device connection; no fishing license, not recording, not submitting fishing logs, not reporting according to regulations. In addition, the two forces also coordinate well in the fight against crimes at sea, ensuring political security - social order and safety in sea areas. Thereby, helping fishermen to be aware of and understand the law on fisheries. The situation of fishing vessels violating foreign waters has been initially prevented; the database for monitoring fishing vessel journeys and warnings of crossing the border has been promoted well. At the same time, fisheries inspection and control activities at the Fisheries Control Office have been strengthened, contributing to the prevention and combat of IUU fishing.

The Provincial Border Guard Command directly propagates to each fisherman (photo: N. Lan)

Lieutenant Colonel Pham Xuan Do - Deputy Commander - Chief of Staff of the Provincial Border Guard Command shared: "To make the work of preventing IUU more effective, in 2024, the two sectors will continue to sign a cooperation agreement, closely coordinating in directing units to perform tasks according to their specialties. To prepare for working with the 5th EC Inspection Team, the Provincial Border Guard Command has proposed many key solutions. In particular, it will coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to promote propaganda in many forms, regularly and continuously for ship owners, captains and fishermen to understand the provisions of the law. Continue to review, grasp the situation and put ships at high risk of violating foreign waters on the special watch list. Strictly control ships and fishermen before leaving port, forcing ship owners and captains to sign a commitment not to violate foreign waters. In addition, the sector is coordinating with relevant forces to continue investigating, verifying and handling fishing vessel cases. captured by foreign countries and will be widely publicized on mass media as well as severely punished to serve as a deterrent. At the same time, the VMS monitoring system will be promoted to promptly detect vessels operating in border areas that are about to invade foreign waters, and notify relevant forces to promptly warn of these cases, preventing fishing vessels from invading foreign territorial waters.

The two sectors continue to sign a cooperation agreement in combating IUU fishing.

The closer the two sectors coordinate, the more effective the fight against IUU fishing will be. Therefore, the two sectors have set out very specific tasks, focusing on implementing solutions during the peak period from now until April 30. Our ultimate goal is to help fishermen feel secure in going out to sea, exploiting fisheries sustainably, both developing the economy and participating in protecting sovereignty, maintaining security and order at sea, contributing with sectors and levels to remove the "yellow card" this year.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chien - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/phoi-hop-cang-chat-che-chong-khai-thac-iuu-cang-hieu-qua-117371.html