Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha: By November 2024, all '3 not-s' ships must be removed

On October 17, at the People's Committee of Ca Mau province, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting of the National Steering Committee on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The meeting received the participation of leaders from several ministries, branches and leaders of six provinces: Ca Mau, Tien Giang, Kien Giang, Soc Trang, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu, combined with an online meeting with Binh Dinh province.

From the viewpoint of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, removing the IUU "yellow card" will help Vietnam's fisheries industry develop sustainably, participate in integration from a proactive stance, and avoid technical and trade barriers when exporting to large markets such as Europe.

"We need to come up with a comprehensive solution not only to remove the ‘yellow card’, but also to improve exploitation efficiency while protecting and developing marine resources in fishing grounds. If fishermen continue to go to sea while fishing grounds are depleted, we cannot completely resolve IUU violations," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Fishing vessels violate IUU fishing through increasingly sophisticated methods

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, more than the achieved results, there are still some tasks to combat IUU fishing that are slow to be resolved. The situation of fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters continues to show complicated developments.

Since the beginning of 2024, domestic authorities have detected, arrested, and handled 19 vessels committing illegal fishing in foreign waters. Fishing vessels are illegally exploiting fish in increasingly sophisticated ways, such as using vessels under 15 m in length without installing a vehicle monitoring system (VMS), intentionally turning off VMS when operating near bordering waters, or intentionally sending and transporting VMS equipment to other vessels.

Currently, the whole country still has more than 9,300 "3 not-s" fishing vessels (not registered, not inspected, not licensed). The situation of buying, selling, transferring ships without changing the ownership, not carrying out the procedures for deregistration, re-registration within the province and between provinces still occurs frequently.

The cases of fishing vessels violating regulations in the wrong area occur in large numbers, especially in the northern provinces such as Thai Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and provinces with a large number of trawlers such as Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Binh Thuan, Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ba Ria - Vung Tau. There are fishing vessels unable to meet the conditions to enter and exit ports or participate in fishing activities. Some localities even recorded the situation of fishing vessels not docking at ports but still unloading exploited aquatic products.

Dealing with the problem of "3 not-s" ships to its root

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien proposed to focus resources on preventing and ending the situation of fishing vessels violating illegal exploitation in foreign waters, especially in the three provinces of Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Binh Dinh.

Localities should urgently complete the work of fleet management, registration, inspection, issuance of fishing licenses, marking of fishing vessels, and thoroughly handling "3 not-s" ships. Relevant units control fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, monitor exploited aquatic output, implement the electronic common technical document (eCDT) with haste and resolutely punish criminal acts of legalizing documents for export shipments to the European market.

"In recent times, we have been controlling the management of fishing vessels quite closely. Regarding the issue of "3 not-s" ships, there are currently more than 300 ships registering for fishing licenses. We have followed the EC's recommendations well in terms of tracing the origin of seafood.

“As for the management of ships entering and leaving ports, we have assigned the Border Guard to use the eCDT electronic exploitation software. Tien Giang province has also installed VMS equipment for 922/922 ships managed by the Border Guard. Since the beginning of 2023, the province has not had any cases of violations of exploitation in foreign waters," said Chairman of Tien Giang People's Committee Nguyen Van Vinh.

Carry out urgent tasks and solutions to existing problems

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested leaders of ministries, sectors and localities to unify their awareness. The implementation of measures to remove the IUU ‘yellow card’ is not only to participate in the European market, but also to develop the sustainable fisheries industry, ensure long-term benefits and livelihoods, and ensure the safety of fishermen's lives. This at the same time allowed the Party and State to implement major policy on developing the marine economy associated with protecting Vietnam’s sovereignty over seas and islands.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to clarify the shortcomings, weaknesses, causes, tasks, and urgent solutions for illegal fishing in foreign waters without declaration. In November 2024, localities must complete the registration and management of 100% of fishing vessels in the area, leaving no "3 not-s" ships unattended.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Department of Fisheries Surveillance to build a peak campaign in coordination with law enforcement forces to control all "3 not-s" ships and fishing vessels that had their registration numbers removed in November 2024.