Ninh Binh boosts aquatic resource protection

On March 23, the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 794/QD-UBND promulgating the list of temporarily banned aquatic exploitation areas; and prohibited fishing occupations and gears in coastal, inshore and inland waters within the province.

Accordingly, the regulation specifies the temporarily banned fishing area as the Quat Lam coastal zone (belonging to the former Nam Dinh province, including the communes of: Giao Hung, Giao Binh, Giao Ninh, Hai Quang and Hai Tien). The fishing ban in this area lasts from April 1 through June 30. Simultaneously, to prevent destructive fishing practices, the province issued a list of 5 prohibited categories of fishing occupations and gears, including: Trawling (except for acetes/shrimp trawling) in coastal and inland areas; Foldable traps (wire traps, octagonal traps, fyke nets); Light-luring fishing (except for squid hand-lining) in coastal areas; Stow nets, blocking nets, and various push nets combined with motorized vessels; and Iron-framed bottom dredges combined with vessels, tractors or blower pumps (eel dredging, mollusk dredging) in inshore, coastal and inland waters.

In addition, the Decision also details the minimum mesh size at the catch-concentration part for each type of fishing gear used in marine areas (gillnets for herring and tuna, lift nets, falling nets, purse seines, etc.) and inland areas (purse seines, fish traps, cast nets, gillnets, etc.) to ensure that juvenile fish have the opportunity to grow.