HCMC combats IUU fishing: Decisive action, no delays

This week, the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Party Committee's Standing Board hosted a meeting and issued directives aimed at decisively resolving difficulties in the city's fight against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Nguyen Van Duoc, Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee and Chairman of the HCMC People's Committee, chaired the meeting.

Many positive results

Following its administrative merger, the new HCMC People's Committee swiftly consolidated the HCMC Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing (HCMC IUU Steering Committee). The committee is headed by Bui Minh Thanh, Vice Chairman of the HCMC People's Committee. Members include leaders from departments, sectors, and the People's Committees of coastal communes, wards, and special zones. The HCMC IUU Steering Committee has issued 7 directives, reviewed the entire fishing fleet, and deregistered 712 vessels that were damaged, inoperable, or sold out of the province.

According to Pham Thi Na, Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Environment, as of Oct. 27, 2025, HCMC has 4,709 legal fishing vessels, 100% of which are updated in the VNFishbase national database. Of these, 4,248 vessels (90.21%) have been licensed for exploitation, an increase of 19.36% since the beginning of the year. The remaining 461 vessels are being classified to complete licensing or are being strictly managed and barred from sailing.

"The city strictly manages vessel activities through the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and electronic Catch Documentation and Traceability (eCDT) at 9 fishing ports," Na reported. "Since the beginning of the year, there have been 2,124 vessel arrivals/9,922 port calls and 2,549 departures/11,283 port calls, with a total offloaded volume of 87,466 tons. Traceability is strictly enforced, with 131 confirmation papers (2,228 tons) and 524 certification papers (5,059 tons) issued, and no violations detected."

HCMC's police, border guard, coast guard, and fisheries surveillance forces have continuously maintained a high-alert status in combating IUU fishing. These forces regularly increase personnel and patrol frequencies, tightly controlling vessel activities right from the estuaries, helping to prevent violations early and remotely.

Thanks to synchronized coordination between forces, law enforcement has been strengthened. Numerous violations have been detected and strictly handled: 9 criminal cases related to IUU fishing have been prosecuted (6 of which have been tried), and 182 administrative violations have resulted in fines totaling over 6.7 billion VND. Notably, due to enhanced monitoring and effective outreach, no HCMC fishing vessels have been seized by foreign countries since the start of 2025, demonstrating a positive shift in the legal compliance consciousness of the city's fishermen.

Notably, HCMC has maintained many creative and relatable outreach methods, such as "Breakfast with Fishermen" and "Morning Coffee with Fishermen." Through these informal meetings, officials listen to fishermen's concerns while simultaneously communicating legal regulations, contributing to a clear improvement in the fishing community's compliance.

Bui Minh Thanh, Head of the HCMC IUU Steering Committee, proposed: "The city should equip coastal communes with speedboats, provide supplementary 2025 funding for communes and wards to operate, issue policies supporting career transitions, decommission old vessels, subsidize VMS equipment purchases, and promptly reward collectives and individuals for outstanding achievements in combating IUU fishing."

"No delays in combating IUU fishing"

Concluding the meeting, Nguyen Van Duoc, Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee and Chairman of the HCMC People's Committee, directed that following the merger, the city identifies the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area as its marine economic hub. Therefore, a balance between development and resource conservation is necessary. "Fishermen's livelihoods must be guaranteed, but all exploitation activities must strictly adhere to legal regulations, aiming for sustainable marine economic development tied to the conservation of aquatic resources for the future," the HCMC People's Committee Chairman emphasized.

The HCMC People's Committee Chairman demanded modern management of the fishing fleet and the strict, timely handling of violations, allowing no room for negligence or overlapping responsibilities. He specifically stressed a decisive spirit of action: "Do not put off until tomorrow what can be done today." He emphasized that coordination between police, border guards, fisheries surveillance, local authorities, and related sectors must be tight and continuous.

Outreach efforts must be strengthened and modernized, combining specialized agencies and grassroots authorities to make information relatable and easy to understand, helping fishermen grasp regulations and improve compliance. Simultaneously, the city must accelerate the licensing of qualified vessels, while "ghost ships" and non-compliant vessels must be resolutely eliminated from the system.

Nguyen Van Duoc also called for strengthening the management of maritime security and order, resolving all detected cases definitively and lawfully, and avoiding backlogs. Acknowledging the many difficulties, he urged localities to uphold their sense of responsibility and demonstrate HCMC's determination in the effort to combat IUU fishing, thereby contributing to preserving the nation's image and reputation internationally.

The HCMC People's Committee Chairman assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to lead and coordinate with othr departments and localities in advising on policies to support career transitions, reduce operational costs, and especially subsidize VMS fees. He also tasked them with studying options for equipping coastal communes with speedboats, clearly identifying which communes would receive them, the operational mechanisms, funding sources, and potential for socialization to ensure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability.

Nationwide effort to remove EC's IUU "yellow card"

Since 2017, the European Commission (EC) has maintained a "yellow card" warning on Vietnamese seafood products due to the persistence of IUU fishing. After five inspections, the EC has recognized Vietnam's progress but noted a continued need to tighten traceability and vessel management. HCMC, along with other coastal localities, has been ordered to complete 100% monitoring of vessels with VMS equipment and prevent any vessels from violating foreign waters before the next inspection, scheduled for November 2025.