Assisting seafood businesses in combating IUU fishing

On the afternoon of June 14, the delegation led by Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) had a working session with the Department of Fisheries (Phu Yen Department of MARD). The working session is about the program to support seafood businesses in combating illegal, undeclared, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

According to the Department of Fisheries, the province has more than 4,100 fishing boats with about 20,520 fishers. Of which, there are about 660 fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more exploiting aquatic products on the high seas.

Since the beginning of the year, the total fishing output of aquatic products of all kinds in the province is over 41,300 tons, and the output of tuna is about 2,400 tons. Over the past, functional forces of the province have focused on directing, guiding, and implementing comprehensive anti-IUU work.

The authorities thoroughly implemented the monitoring, inspection, and control of fishing vessel activities through the VMS system. Consequently, since 2019, no fishing vessels of Phu Yen violating foreign waters have been arrested and handled. These are the province's outstanding results in the efforts to combat IUU fishing. They also contributed to the country's seafood industry, and the effort to remove the "yellow card" of the European Commission…

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, the goal of the VASEP’s delegation this time is to meet and work with the Department of Fisheries of 3 provinces including Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and Khanh Hoa. The VASEP’s delegation discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the certification of caught seafood and the tasks of combating IUU fishing.

VASEP meets and works with the management boards of fishing ports in these three provinces to understand the situation in the inspection of fishing vessels leaving and arriving, record and measure the output and species of seafood at the port, and validate raw material and IUU anti-fishing duties.

VASEP  meets with seafood companies in 3 provinces to exchange and support IUU teams of companies to complete documents, records, processes, procedures, and actual implementation of anti-IUU work in Vietnam businesses. The delegation exchanged and summarized the difficulties, problems, and recommendations of companies in the anti-IUU fishing program as well as seafood processing and export activities in general.