Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development inspects the situation of combating IUU fishing in Thanh Hoa

On February 24, a working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by Deputy Minister and Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) Phung Duc Tien worked with the Provincial People's Committee on implementing the EC's recommendations on combating IUU fishing and preparing for investment in the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project, with a loan from the World Bank (WB).

Members of the working group inspected Lach Bang Fishing Port (Nghi Son Town).

Receiving and working with the delegation were comrade Le Duc Giang, Provincial Party Committee member, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and representatives of relevant departments, branches and units of the province.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien and Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee Le Duc Giang and the working delegation inspected the situation of combating IUU fishing at Lach Bang Fishing Port (Nghi Son Town) and Lach Hoi Fishing Port (Sam Son City).

The working group inspected the implementation of the EC's recommendations on combating IUU fishing.

In recent times, Thanh Hoa has increased patrolling, inspection and control of fishing vessels at inlets and at sea, focusing on disseminating and popularizing the contents of the Fisheries Law and the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) on combating IUU fishing to fishermen and businesses involved in seafood exploitation and processing. Thereby, raising people's awareness of complying with legal regulations in seafood exploitation.

As of February 24, 2024, the whole province has 5,993 fishing boats; of which, 2,715/2,715 fishing boats subject to registration have been entered into the national database system Vnfishbase, 100% of boat owners have signed a commitment not to violate foreign waters, 100% of fishing boats have been installed with journey monitoring equipment...

However, in 2023, the whole province had 359 ships losing signal for 10 days or more. Through verification, the authorities have administratively sanctioned 10 cases of ships losing VMS connection for a long time while fishing with a total fine of 61 million VND and 92 cases of violating the Fisheries Law with a total fine of more than 1.6 billion VND. In the province, the infrastructure of fishing ports, anchorage areas, and storm shelters for fishing vessels has not been upgraded in a timely manner, is not synchronized, and does not meet the EC's requirements on traceability of exploited aquatic products, and combating IUU fishing...

Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Van Cuong presented a report at the conference.

At the meeting, relevant units also reported on the implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, borrowing capital from the World Bank. In particular, Thanh Hoa province has invested in upgrading 2 fishing ports including: Lach Hoi Fishing Port (Sam Son City) and Lach Bang Fishing Port (Nghi Son Town). Accordingly, Lach Hoi Fishing Port has invested in building a new wharf, dredging the anchorage area, wharf gate, waterway, internal traffic roads... The total implementation cost is about 270 billion VND; Lach Bang Fishing Port has invested in building infrastructure systems in 2 areas of Hai Thanh and Hai Binh, with a total cost of 177 billion VND.

Along with that, on December 14, 2023, the People's Council of Thanh Hoa province issued a decision on investment policy for the Thanh Hoa Province Sustainable Fisheries Development Project, borrowing WB capital to continue upgrading the seafood exploitation infrastructure system to ensure synchronization with the supporting industry, logistics services and improve the efficiency of seafood exploitation, develop brackish water aquaculture infrastructure, from the provincial budget and WB loans.

Members of the working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development spoke at the working session.

Based on the field inspection at Lach Hoi Fishing Port and Lach Bang Fishing Port, the members of the working group pointed out the shortcomings in implementing the EC's recommendations on combating IUU fishing and the preparation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project, borrowing from the World Bank. In particular, focusing on tracing the origin of aquatic products through journey monitoring equipment, monitoring and supervising fishing vessels entering and leaving the port, the issue of handling fishing vessels violating IUU regulations and shortcomings in planning and designing investment items under the Sustainable Fisheries Development Project.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Duc Giang spoke at the conference.

On behalf of the provincial leaders, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Duc Giang thanked the working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for having a working session with Thanh Hoa province and pointed out the shortcomings and limitations in the implementation of the EC's recommendations on IUU fishing as well as providing solutions to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development project in the province.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also pointed out the shortcomings in the process of preparing for the project implementation, and assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to be the focal point, coordinating with the consulting unit and relevant parties to complete the detailed design of the project, ensuring feasibility, science, promoting the function and efficiency after investment.

Concluding the working session, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien highly appreciated the participation of the Provincial People's Committee, relevant departments, branches and units in deploying and implementing the project according to the roadmap of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the requirements of the WB and implementing the EC's recommendations on combating IUU fishing.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien concluded the conference.

At the same time, relevant units are required to review the plans that have been, are being and will be implemented in the area to ensure that the Thanh Hoa Province Sustainable Aquaculture Development Project is implemented appropriately, synchronously, and has a modern architectural space design. Relevant units need to absorb the opinions at the conference and assign the Thanh Hoa Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to be the focal point for synthesizing and collecting relevant information, ensuring that the project is implemented on schedule.

Along with that, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development also frankly pointed out the shortcomings and weaknesses in the management of the province's fishing activities, which are the low rate of monitoring fish output through ports; the rate of penalties imposed by functional forces on the number of cases and fishing vessels recorded is still low... Accordingly, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development requested Thanh Hoa province to continue to strictly manage fishing vessels through voyage monitoring devices, strengthen inspection and control of fishing activities in border areas, increase sanctions against fishing vessels and vehicle owners who intentionally violate regulations on IUU fishing... From now until April 2024, the province needs to have more drastic and determined action plans in combating IUU fishing violations to join hands with the whole country to remove the EC "yellow card".

Le Hoa

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thoi-su/thu-truong-bo-nn-amp-ptnt-kiem-tra-tinh-hinh-chong-khai-thac-iuu-tai-thanh-hoa/207483.htm