The conference was chaired from Hanoi by comrade Tran Luu Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister; also attending were representatives of ministries, branches, members of the National IUU Steering Committee and 28 coastal provinces and cities.
From Nghe An bridge, comrade Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending the conference were representatives of relevant departments, localities and coastal border control stations.
The situation of IUU fishing is still complicated.
At the beginning of the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang in his opening remarks reminded ministries, sectors and localities: from now until the 4th inspection team of the European Commission EC arrives in Vietnam, there is only more than 1 month left and the situation of IUU fishing in localities is still complicated, fishing vessels violating foreign waters still exist; the European Parliament is about to enter a new term with many changes in personnel. Therefore, this is a precious time and the only opportunity for Vietnam to remove the EC yellow card this year.
Specifically, according to the report of the National IUU Steering Committee, from 2017 to present, the EC has organized 3 field inspections in Vietnam in May 2018, November 2019 and October 2022. Based on the EC's recommendations, localities have implemented solutions to tighten management and licensing of fishing and have created positive changes.
However, according to the EC, at the time of inspection, if there is still one Vietnamese fishing vessel illegally fishing in foreign waters, the yellow card will not be removed. Currently, the situation of losing the VMS connection signal on fishing vessels while fishing is still common. In the past two years, although the authorities have taken drastic measures and the number of vessels being punished and prosecuted has increased, in the first 8 months of the year, the whole country still had 39 cases with 252 fishermen fishing in foreign waters being arrested by foreign countries; fleet management is still loose, compliance with regulations on designated ports and traceability of caught seafood is still limited.
At the conference, representatives of ministries and sectors who are members of the National IUU Steering Committee and some coastal localities reported on the implementation of measures to combat IUU fishing, the results of propaganda and combat measures... The reason is that Vietnam's fishing fleet is still large, the fishing force is strong, so aquatic resources are declining, causing fishermen to have to go to foreign waters to fish for a living...
Strengthening advocacy and monitoring of IUU onshore and offshore
From the reality of law enforcement in localities, representatives of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, which are localities that have recently had fishing boats detained by foreign countries, stated that almost all localities have implemented onshore solutions; the rest are just management and handling measures at sea, how to change fishermen's awareness to comply well when going to sea to fish...
At the conference, representatives of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors (VASEP) reported on recommendations and impacts of the EC's yellow card removal on Vietnam or vice versa, scenarios and situations in which the EC does not remove the yellow card for Vietnamese seafood, or even receives a red card.
Accordingly, seafood exports will bring Vietnam 11 billion USD in 2022, so whether the yellow card is removed or not will have great impacts and influences on our country's seafood import and export in the coming time.
In Nghe An, from the beginning of 2023 to now, the whole province has had 11,702 fishing boats lost connection at sea, of which 370 boats lost connection for more than 10 days; 108 fishing boats crossed the permitted boundary at sea. Through patrolling and controlling, from the beginning of 2023 to now, the Provincial Border Guard has fined 9 fishing boat owners VND 215 million; other forces have fined 95 vehicles VND 501.7 million.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang shared the efforts and difficulties of localities and ministries that have actively and resolutely taken action to remove the EC yellow card in recent times. On the basis of reiterating the impacts and influences of the EC yellow card on the national position, the Deputy Prime Minister requested ministries and localities to continue to resolutely take part in propaganda and mobilization, together with the entire political system, to remove the EC yellow card this year.
In the coming time, ministries and localities need to develop a concise plan, if necessary, establish a special working group chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to deploy synchronous solutions, promptly and transparently handle arising issues; request localities to take the lead in coordinating between localities and functional forces in inspecting and monitoring the number of ships; manage and inspect from shore to offshore./.
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