On the afternoon of February 5, in Rach Gia city, Kien Giang province, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Head of the National Steering Committee for IUU, chaired the 9th meeting on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) with relevant ministries, sectors, units and 28 coastal provinces and cities across the country.
In his directive speech, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Head of the National Steering Committee for IUU, requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, relevant ministries, sectors, units and localities to focus all efforts and coordinate closely to effectively carry out two tasks: no fishing vessels violating foreign waters and strictly handling IUU fishing violations. In particular, similar cases to those handled in Kien Giang, the provinces should boldly bring them to the People's Court for trial and handle other cases for education and deterrence.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to continue organizing working groups to inspect, urge and guide localities in implementing the task of combating IUU fishing, and report the results to the Prime Minister. Coordinate with relevant sectors and localities to further strengthen extensive and effective propaganda work, especially taking advantage of the time when fishermen go ashore for Tet holiday to step up propaganda and mobilization against IUU fishing, and not to violate foreign waters to illegally exploit and catch seafood.
Fishermen's fishing boats anchored at Cai Be River, Chau Thanh District (Kien Giang).
Regarding the Ministry of National Defense, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang requested coordination with relevant ministries, branches, units and coastal provinces and cities to continue to comprehensively and synchronously implement solutions, creating changes in preventing and ending illegal fishing vessels in foreign waters. The Ministry of Public Security focuses on investigating, preventing and handling acts of brokerage and collusion, prosecuting and trying violations.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested coastal provinces and cities to allocate sufficient resources and clearly assign responsibilities to local agencies and functional forces to thoroughly handle violations of illegal exploitation in foreign waters, disconnect VMS, etc. Direct law enforcement agencies and forces to thoroughly apply measures right from shore to promptly detect early, from a distance, prevent and promptly handle fishing vessels and fishermen showing signs of illegal exploitation in foreign waters.
According to the Department of Fisheries Surveillance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from the beginning of 2023 to now, 64 vessels/550 fishermen have been arrested and processed by foreign countries for illegal fishing. Fleet management has not been ensured according to regulations, monitoring and control of fishing vessel activities in some localities is not consistent. Currently, the whole country has about 15,198 "3 no" fishing vessels (no registration, no fishing license, no inspection), the most in Binh Thuan province with 1,868 vessels. The situation of fishing vessels being bought and sold, and changing ownership between localities is not strictly controlled, especially in the provinces of Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Soc Trang...
Some localities have not seriously implemented the suspension of new construction, conversion of fishing vessels, and trading without written approval from competent authorities as prescribed, especially vessels of 15 meters or more, leading to "3 no" vessels.
In addition, the situation of fishing vessels violating the VMS disconnection regulations continues to occur commonly, from the beginning of 2023 to now, nearly 5,000 vessels have lost connection for more than 10 days. Violations of transporting and sending VMS devices on other fishing vessels to avoid monitoring by management agencies are becoming more complicated, especially in the provinces of Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ba Ria - Vung Tau...
The situation of fishing boats operating in the wrong area occurs in large numbers, especially in the northern provinces such as Thai Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh... but the authorities have not yet taken action to handle it.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang gave a speech at the conference.
On the other hand, the quality control of fishing logs serving the traceability of aquatic products in many localities is still not guaranteed according to regulations such as: Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Binh... have not yet deployed a unified and synchronous electronic traceability system nationwide to monitor and control the work of confirming and certifying the origin of domestically exploited aquatic products.
Fishing boats do not dock to unload exploited aquatic products, but localities have not yet had effective solutions to ensure control and traceability of exploited aquatic products.
Law enforcement and handling of IUU violations are still lacking in determination and uneven among localities. Since the beginning of 2023, only 8/37 vessels detained and handled by foreign countries have been verified and punished (accounting for 21.62%); verification and punishment of cases of VMS disconnection according to regulations are still very limited; a case related to brokerage and collusion to bring fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit in foreign waters in Kien Giang province has been brought to trial.
To achieve the goal, determined to remove the "Yellow Card" warning in 2024, first of all, preparing for the 5th working session with the EC Inspection Team on IUU, the Ministries, branches and localities are committed to making drastic efforts to combat IUU fishing, recommending Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Head of the National Steering Committee on IUU, to request the heads of Ministries, branches and localities to focus on leadership and direction to thoroughly resolve the existing problems and limitations according to the EC's recommendations in the 4th inspection, ensuring specific results and evidence to work with the 5th EC inspection team (expected in April 2024).
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