Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien requests tight control of fishing vessels, strict handling of IUU violations

Efforts to lift the EC's "yellow card"

On the morning of November 6, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE)'s working delegation, led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, had a working session with the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee on anti-IUU fishing. Welcoming and working with the delegation were Mr. Cao Van Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and representatives from provincial departments, sectors, functional forces, and coastal localities.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment's report, Thanh Hoa currently has 6,243 fishing vessels, including 1,014 offshore vessels, all equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS), achieving a 100% installation rate. Since the beginning of 2025, the province's total seafood catch has reached over 117,515 tons, fulfilling 83.9% of the plan.

Thanh Hoa province has achieved many positive results in combating IUU fishing. All fishing vessels have been registered, inspected, marked, numbered, and updated in the national fisheries database (VNFishbase). Notably, no fishing vessels from the province have violated foreign waters.

The inspection and certification rates for technical safety and food safety reached 96.4% - 98.7%. Thanh Hoa currently has four announced fishing ports, including Hoa Loc, Lach Hoi, Lach Bang, and Hai Chau. Among these, three ports are designated as eligible to verify and certify the origin of seafood. Since the beginning of the year, approximately 24,139 tons of seafood have been unloaded at these ports, and 31 certificates of origin have been issued.

The province has also strengthened the management and control of fishing vessels, monitoring of vessel cruises, and handling of violations, thereby deterring and preventing them. From early 2025 to November 5, 217 violations were sanctioned, with total fines of over VND 2.91 billion. All violating vessels have been updated in the database.

Focusing on addressing shortcomings

Despite the positive outcomes, Thanh Hoa still faces several shortcomings in fishing vessel management, in particular, and combating IUU fishing in general. Some fishing vessels have yet to meet operational requirements; the connection with VMS devices remains below standard; and the infrastructure at fishing ports and the control manpower remain inadequate.

As of 2024, the province still had 81 vessels that failed to meet operational conditions, including 37 with expired fishing licenses, 64 with expired inspection certificates, and 28 with expired food safety certificates.

Loss of VMS connection remains widespread. In 2024, 1,187 vessels lost VMS connection, including 61 that lost connection for more than 10 consecutive days. Authorities sanctioned 1,022 vessels, while 104 cases are still under verification. In 2025, 707 vessels experienced VMS disconnections lasting from 6 hours to 10 days, 30 vessels were fined, and 51 vessels remain under verification.

The inspection, control, and monitoring of seafood volumes unloaded at ports remain limited. The scale and number of designated fishing ports are still insufficient to meet the entire province’s docking and departure demand. Despite investments, the fisheries infrastructure still lacks synchronization and fails to meet the EC's recommendations.

The main reasons include that some fishing vessels remain inactive, are damaged, or lack crew members and therefore have not completed the required registration and licensing procedures. Verification of vessels that have lost VMS connection has been difficult because many vessels operate offshore or are anchored in other provinces. In addition, commune-level governments have only recently been consolidated, while inspection and monitoring forces remain understaffed and poorly equipped. Fishing ports built more than a decade ago have seriously deteriorated, with many anchorage areas silted up and current capacity unable to meet the demands of fishing vessels.

In response, Thanh Hoa has directed relevant sectors and localities to review, clean up, and update the fishing vessel database on VNFishbase, and to coordinate with Border Guard and Police forces to strictly handle violations. The functional sector collaborates with VNPT Group to upgrade the VMS system to ensure seamless connection.

Thanh Hoa aims to complete the full upgrade of all VMS devices by October 22, 2025. At the same time, specialized forces strengthen inspection and control of fishing vessels at ports and wharves and strictly handle cases of inactive VMS devices or unregulated fishing activities. All administrative sanction results will be promptly updated in the national database.

To effectively fulfill these tasks, Thanh Hoa province has requested that the MAE accelerate the repair and upgrade of Lach Hoi and Lach Bang fishing ports, as well as the anchorage and storm-shelter areas, to meet production demands and ensure fishermen's safety. The province also urged the Central Government to soon amend the Law on Fisheries and decrees to remove bottlenecks in management, registration, licensing, and IUU violation handling.

Accelerating fisheries data digitalization

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Cao Van Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, stated that in recent times, the entire provincial political system has taken decisive actions to combat IUU fishing, launching a peak month against IUU with the highest determination to join nationwide efforts to lift the "yellow card" imposed on Vietnamese seafood. 

Mr. Cao Van Cuong requested that the Department of Agriculture and Environment promptly establish a task group to coordinate with local governments to review and resolve all VMS disconnection cases before November 15. Local governments are to strengthen the management of seafood output through ports and wharves and submit monthly reports to update the information in the national fisheries database. At the same time, they are to intensify the handling of violations and accelerate the digitalization of fisheries data.

The Vice Chairman also called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to develop software and upgrade the synchronous vessel monitoring infrastructure across relevant agencies while speeding up the progress of the upgrade projects for the Lach Hoi and Lach Bang fishing ports.

Concluding the working session, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien acknowledged Thanh Hoa province’s efforts in combating IUU fishing but emphasized that several aspects have not yet met the requirements of the EC’s recommendations.

The Deputy Minister requested the province to tightly control its fishing fleet tightly, ensuring that all vessels possess valid licenses and maintain continuous operation of their VMS devices. He also stressed the need to tighten the procedures for seafood origin verification and certification at ports, preventing violations such as VMS connection loss for more than six hours without reporting, connection loss exceeding 10 days without returning to port, or crossing fishing boundaries.

"Thanh Hoa province must review its organizational structure and concentrate resources to control fishing vessels onshore, at wharves, at sea, and upon landing. For vessels that lose connection for multiple days at sea, urgent verification and strict handling are required. Administrative fines should be increased to enhance deterrence and raise fishermen’s awareness of compliance. At the same time, the province needs to upgrade its electronic traceability system to ensure transparency and efficiency in combating illegal fishing. To achieve this, it is necessary to mobilize resources and unify direction and actions from the Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee to the government at all levels," Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien emphasized.

Additionally, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien suggested the province quickly complete documentation for the opening of new ports, facilitating offshore vessels' entry and exit and ensuring eligibility for seafood origin verification. He also called on the province to prepare all necessary records and evidence for the EC's upcoming inspection delegation and to regard the fight against IUU fishing as a key and regular political task. The Deputy Minister also asked the province to proactively report to the Ministry for timely support when difficulties arise during implementation.