Strict management of fishing fleets is one of the important recommendations of the EC related to removing the IUU "yellow card" (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing), so Binh Thuan is actively trying to implement many key solutions.
Declaring war on the "3 no's" ship
At the recent meeting of the Provincial Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing, the content of the group of "3 no" vessels (not registered, inspected, and not having a fishing license) was hotly discussed by localities as well as members of the steering committee. After completing the issuance of temporary registration licenses, the Department of Fisheries has now established a working group to go to the grassroots level to coordinate with localities to implement the registration and issuance of fishing licenses for fishing vessels according to Circular 06/2024/TT-BNNPTNT (Circular 06). To date, 2,499/2,531 "3 no" fishing vessels have been temporarily registered (reaching 98.7%); 230 fishing vessels have been officially registered. In addition, the Public Administration Center is receiving 550 dossiers; localities have received 590 dossiers and are preparing to transfer them to the Public Administration Center.
Thus, up to now, the number of fishing vessels following Circular 06 completing procedures for re-registration is 1,370, reaching 54.1% of the total number of fishing vessels announced, of which 2 localities are very active, implementing nearly 100% completion, namely Phu Quy and Ham Thuan Nam. In addition, the Fishing Vessel Inspection Center has inspected the status of 221/228 fishing vessels following Circular 06 with a length of 12 meters or more that are subject to inspection; 7 fishing vessels have not been inspected because the ship owners requested to withdraw from the re-registration list (3 vessels), are operating outside the province (1 vessel), and are not present in the locality (3 vessels).
However, currently, the number of fishing vessels that do not have or have expired fishing licenses is still large with 1,659, mainly Tuy Phong with 380 vessels; Phan Thiet with 471 vessels; La Gi with 478 vessels; Phu Quy with 298 vessels. Analyzing the reasons, Mr. Huynh Quang Huy - Head of the Department of Fisheries said that because it is the southern fishing season, many fishing vessels that have gone fishing far away have not yet come ashore to complete the procedures. Some vessels are not painted in accordance with regulations. Vessels under 15 m are currently granted licenses for a period of only 1 year, because the province has not surveyed and assessed the aquatic resources in the offshore area, while vessels over 15 m will be granted a quota of 5 years. Therefore, it will more or less cause people to confuse the licensing period, leading to delays in completing the procedures for registering fishing licenses.
At the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai emphasized that the agricultural sector and relevant agencies need to focus during the peak period of August and September 2024 to handle and deter ship owners who are not proactive and do not cooperate in preparing "3 no" ship records, in order to contribute to completing the registration work before September 15, on schedule.
Localities said that in reality, there are quite a lot of “3 no” fishing boats appearing due to the previously free fishing habits of fishermen. Since being informed and advised, fishermen really want the authorities to consider granting them licenses so that they can confidently take their boats to sea to legally fish. This not only helps to regulate the management of boats but also creates favorable conditions for fishermen to go offshore and stick to the sea to exploit seafood in accordance with regulations.
Strictly handle fishing vessels violating the VMS system
The province has 1,949 fishing vessels with a length of 15 meters or more that are required to install a voyage monitoring system (VMS). Although the VMS installation rate is 100% and is closely monitored through the fishing vessel monitoring system, the number of fishing vessels losing connection to VMS is still high. In the past time, the on-duty work at the provincial fishing vessel monitoring center has been strictly implemented to monitor, supervise and handle information about fishing vessels losing connection and crossing maritime boundaries according to procedures and regulations. However, the punishment of fishing vessels losing connection at sea is still very limited. Since the beginning of the year, 1 fishing vessel has been detected crossing maritime boundaries (returning to Vietnamese waters). In addition, the province has 5,338/619 vessels losing connection at sea for more than 6 hours without reporting to shore, but only 1 case has been punished; 113/113 fishing boats lost connection at sea for over 10 days, but only 14 cases were punished.
Explaining the reason why it is not possible to handle vessels that have lost VMS connection through technical devices, Mr. Le Thanh Binh - Deputy Head of the Department of Fisheries said that currently there are overlapping decrees and no specific instructions, so localities are confused and have no basis to "fine" fishing vessels that violate the monitoring system. In addition to the poor quality of many VMS devices, untimely maintenance and repair, it is also difficult to determine whether the problem is caused by the device or the user when an incident occurs.
Regarding this issue, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai requested the Department of Agriculture to coordinate with the Border Guard, the Department of Justice and related sectors to assess whether the handling and punishment according to the "cold fine" mechanism ensures legal conditions, and if so, it needs to be seriously implemented. In particular, for fishing vessels that lose VMS connection, the Fishing Vessel Monitoring Center needs to have a clear conclusion for each case, the cause of the violation to handle thoroughly, avoiding the situation of blaming the network operator, losing signal, running out of charge...
With the strong direction of the provincial leaders, the strong participation of the agricultural sector and local authorities, by September 15, 2024, more than 2,500 "3 no" fishing vessels in the province will have legal records for management, contributing to helping the locality solve one of the major obstacles in overcoming IUU.
Violations of regulations on management and use of fishing vessel monitoring equipment such as dismantling, storing, or transporting two or more fishing vessel monitoring devices; disabling satellite positioning devices or VMS devices; paralyzing, interrupting, suspending operations, or illegally preventing the transfer of data from VMS devices to the fishing vessel monitoring system, according to Resolution 04 of the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Council, will be prosecuted under Article 287 of the Penal Code. The Resolution takes effect from August 1, 2024.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/vi-chu-quyen-an-ninh-an-toan-bien-dao-siet-chat-cong-tac-quan-ly-hoat-dong-tau-ca-o-dia-phuong-123084.html
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