Strengthening control of fishing vessels at sea

Inter-sectoral forces patrol and control fishing boats operating in the waters of Me Island (Nghi Son town).

Recently, the Thanh Hoa Department of Seas, Islands and Fisheries coordinated with the Provincial Border Guard Command and the Representative Office of Thanh Hoa Fisheries Inspection and Control to organize an interdisciplinary team to conduct the first patrol, inspection and control at sea in 2025 in coastal and offshore waters of the province. From February 18 to 21, the working group patrolled, inspected and controlled seafood exploitation activities, thereby detecting, preventing and handling IUU fishing activities. In particular, they made records and administratively sanctioned 3 vessels for violations of storing electric shock tools and not having certificates for captains and chief engineers of fishing vessels. In addition, the working group propagated and guided fishermen on regulations for crew members and fishing vessels operating in the wrong areas, wrong routes, and not marking fishing vessels... At the same time, they required owners of vessels to quickly complete the necessary procedures and strictly implement seafood exploitation according to licenses.

Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, Head of the Fisheries Control Department, Thanh Hoa Department of Sea, Islands and Fisheries, said: "Through inspections by the forces, the aim is to prevent, stop and promptly detect and handle violations of the law on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources in coastal waters, offshore areas, estuaries, and IUU fishing. The forces also combine patrolling, inspection and control with propaganda and raising awareness among fishermen about compliance with legal regulations in fishing activities. At the same time, timely support and help fishermen feel secure to stay at sea to exploit seafood; ensure order and security at sea".

According to the Thanh Hoa Department of Sea, Islands and Fisheries, since the beginning of 2025, functional forces in the province have strengthened the work of reviewing, verifying and working with fishing vessel owners who violate IUU fishing and fishing vessels at high risk of violating IUU fishing. Along with that, they have concentrated forces, established patrol, inspection and control teams at sea, inlets and at fishing ports. Thereby, the forces have detected and recorded 12 cases of violations of storing electric shock devices and operating in the wrong area, wrong route, not marking fishing vessels... Through monitoring on the Thanh Hoa province's fishing vessel monitoring system, the forces discovered 341 fishing vessels that lost connection to their journey monitoring devices for more than 6 hours at sea and 14 vessels that lost connection for more than 10 days at sea. On that basis, the Thanh Hoa Department of Sea, Islands and Fisheries sent a notice of fishing vessels losing connection beyond the prescribed time to the Provincial Border Guard Command and the People's Committees of coastal districts, towns and cities to inspect, monitor, verify and handle violations according to regulations.

Currently, the province has 6,635 fishing vessels, of which 1,092 are 15m or longer and specialize in offshore fishing. 100% of fishing vessels have registered to be marked and entered into the national fisheries database system Vnfishbase and marked according to regulations. Head of the Thanh Hoa Department of Sea, Islands and Fisheries Le Xuan Dong said: "To carry out tasks and solutions to combat IUU fishing, the department has developed an inter-sectoral patrol and control plan to carry out patrol, control and handle illegal fishing activities of fishing vessels and fishermen in the province's sea areas. In particular, focusing on detecting, preventing and strictly handling acts of fishing in the wrong areas and wrong routes; fishing vessels with "3 no's" (no registration, no inspection, no license) and fishing vessels that are not qualified to participate in fishing. In addition, the forces have increased inspection of fishing vessels before leaving port and absolutely do not allow fishing vessels to go to sea to fish when they do not meet the prescribed conditions".

With the participation of functional forces in inspecting and controlling the fleet well so that fishermen comply with legal regulations during the process of exploiting seafood at sea, it will contribute to the whole country achieving the goal of removing the "yellow card" in the upcoming 5th working session with the EC inspection team.

Article and photos: Le Hoi

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tang-cuong-kiem-soat-tau-ca-tren-bien-243991.htm