Promoting solutions to combat IUU fishing, preparing to welcome and work with the 4th European Commission Inspection Delegation

Thursday, September 28, 2023 | 18:41:19

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On the morning of September 28, Comrade Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) chaired an online conference with 28 coastal provinces and cities on promoting solutions to combat IUU fishing, preparing to welcome and work with the 4th European Commission (EC) Inspection Delegation.

Comrade Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) spoke at the conference.

Attending the Thai Binh bridge were comrade Lai Van Hoan, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Border Guard Command; and a number of departments, branches and localities.

Comrade Lai Van Hoan, Provincial Party Committee member, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and delegates attended the conference at Thai Binh bridge.

Currently, the total number of fishing vessels in our country is over 85,000, of which 29,000 are vessels of 15m or more; 76,185 are registered. Localities such as Khanh Hoa, Da Nang City... have done a good job of preventing and handling fishing vessels illegally exploiting seafood, thereby significantly reducing violations. Although there have been certain changes, there are still many shortcomings and limitations that are slow to be overcome in some localities such as Nghe An, Quang Ngai, Kien Giang, Ben Tre... In these localities, the situation of fishing vessels losing connection signal for more than 10 days still occurs. In addition, the rate of monitoring seafood output through ports is still low. There are still many shortcomings in the implementation of confirmation, certification and traceability of exploited seafood. The situation of fishing vessels illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters still occurs.

In preparation for the 4th working session with the EC Inspection Delegation, scheduled from October 10 to 15, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recommends that localities focus on inspection contents such as: Control of fishing vessels violating foreign waters; control of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, fishing vessels operating at sea, control of IUU fishing activities at fishing ports; implementation of regulations on installation of voyage monitoring equipment, management and operation of fishing vessel data processing that has lost connection and is out of Vietnamese waters; regulations on registration, licensing of fishing vessels, making a list of IUU fishing vessels...; confirmation and certification of the origin of exploited seafood for shipments exported to Europe; working with a number of businesses with shipments exported to Europe to check records, confirmation and certification processes for seafood raw materials exploited in Vietnamese waters and imported raw materials (if any).

In Thai Binh province, inspection teams have been established to combat IUU fishing in Thai Thuy and Tien Hai districts. Currently, the province has 724 ships on the software, with a total capacity of 102,487KW, of which 177 are fishing vessels over 15m in length (98.87% of which have installed voyage monitoring equipment); 685/742 fishing licenses have been issued (91.45%); the rate of fishing licenses granted and still valid is 599/742 (80.72%).

Concluding the conference, the Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating IUU Fishing emphasized: To prepare for the upcoming 4th working session with the EC Inspection Delegation, localities need to focus on implementing 4 contents: Completing the legal framework; monitoring, inspecting, controlling the activities of fishing vessels, managing the fleet; certifying the output and tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products; enforcing the law, especially strictly handling fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters. Requesting sectors and localities to develop a master plan and detailed scenario to welcome and work with the EC Inspection Delegation according to the assigned contents and requirements.

Nguyen Tham

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