Prime Minister criticizes, Binh Dinh stops violating fishing boats from foreign waters

Violations are many, but the handling is limited

On the morning of April 20, a delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the General Department of Fisheries, on inspecting the work against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing at Quy Nhon Fishing Port (Binh Dinh).

According to Mr. Hung, from May 24-31, the EC inspection team is expected to visit Vietnam to inspect the implementation of the 4th European recommendations with contents on law enforcement at fishing ports and Provincial Fisheries Sub-Departments.

To prepare to work with the EC inspection team, on the morning of April 21, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will hold a conference "Implement urgent tasks and solutions, focusing on combating illegal and unreported fishing not according to regulations and prepare to work with the 4th European Commission Inspection Delegation" in Binh Dinh. Before the conference, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized an inspection of fishing ports in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh.

At Quy Nhon Fishing Port, the delegation checked the recording and control of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port, controlling fishing logs and conditions to ensure fishing vessels when entering and leaving the port.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Binh Dinh is one of the provinces that have implemented the fight against IUU fishing quite well. In particular, Quy Nhon Fishing Port has done a good job of keeping a diary, inspecting and controlling fishing vessels entering and exiting berths and their output, and tracing the origin of caught seafood. But unfortunately, in the first months of 2023, Binh Dinh still has three fishing boats caught in violation of IUU by foreign countries.

“Regarding this issue, the Prime Minister issued Official Letter 265 criticizing the provinces that still allow fishing vessels to violate IUU, including Binh Dinh. Besides that, the provinces must review and evaluate the situation and report to the Prime Minister before May 15, 2023," Mr. Hung said.

Through the third inspection, the EC inspection team assessed that Vietnam had made great and drastic efforts against IUU illegal fishing. Still, the EC continued to recommend shortcomings that Vietnam needs to overcome.

"The EC is particularly interested in why there are still many violating fishing boats, but the handling is still limited compared to the number of violations. The EC recommends that Vietnam strictly handle violations to deter and prevent violations. It is essential to stop the situation of fishing vessels violating foreign waters. This is a prerequisite for Vietnam to remove the IUU "yellow card", affirmed Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung.

Overcome limitations

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued guiding documents and coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to deploy four solutions groups. The first is to review and amend the legal framework in line with the current situation of Vietnam's fisheries. Vietnam is reviewing and revising Decree 26 and Decree 42 on administrative sanctions.

Regarding fleet management, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has requested provinces to complete 100% of registration, registration, issuance of mining licenses and data entry into the national system for monitoring. Continue to inspect and inspect businesses and fishing ports for traceability and control from the time fishing vessels operate at sea, ships to docks, and certification of fishing vessels...

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of Binh Dinh Fishing Port in charge of Quy Nhon Fishing Port, the coordination between coastal provinces in the fight against IUU fishing has been effective, which is the functional sector in Binh Intend to capture fishing boats of fishermen from other provinces operating in Binh Dinh that are at high risk of IUU violations provided by your provinces.

"Before the EC delegation went to Vietnam for the fourth inspection, Quy Nhon Fishing Port continued to thoroughly propagate to fishermen the nature of the IUU "yellow card" and the requirements of Europe to avoid violations. In addition, Quy Nhon Fishing Port tightens management of fishing vessels that do not comply with procedures and high-risk vessels violating IUU", said Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung.

To overcome the bottleneck in handling the violating fishing vessels, the Prime Minister has concluded the Government Office has also sent a document requesting the relevant ministries, branches and localities to review and handle the situation strictly, especially those that have been violated before but have not been handled so far.

All guidelines are now available for traceability work in Circular No. 21 and Circular No. 01, revised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Which complete instructions on the implementation steps, forms and forms; suggested that localities need to strictly comply with Circular 21 and Circular 01 to implement synchronously, transparently, and logically in traceability.