Quang Tri faces challenges to combat IUU

According to Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the implementation of measures to combat IUU fishing in the province has achieved positive results, but there are still shortcomings.

First the installation of cruise monitoring equipment on the fishing vessels from 15m to less than 24m long is not yet finished. Only 140 out of 362 vessels of those types have been installed.

At the same time, they have not combined the monitoring system when reporting the fishing log, as the result, it could not ensure the reliability in the inspection, control and supervision seafood output through the port.

Phan Van Nghi, Deputy Chairman of the People's Committee of Gio Linh district, as the locality with the largest number of offshore fishing boats in Quang Tri province, said: “ The district has implemented many solutions to improve the anti-IUU fishing.”

His district has directed coastal localities including Gio Hai, Gio Mai, Gio Viet, Trung Giang and Cua Viet town to intensify the education on the matter and organise strict measures to combat IUU exploitation such installing monitoring equipment, requiring vessels with the equipment to turn on their devices 24/24 while operating at sea. It also leads ship owners to sign commitments not to commit fishing violations in foreign waters.

The district asks vessels with the length of 15m or more that regularly operate in the East Sea of ​​Hainan Island must land and leave the designated fishing ports including Cua Viet and Cua Tung while vessels of 12m in length must record and submit their reports and diaries.

Gio Linh also closely controls and supervises the activities of fishing ships at sea, developing criteria for fishing vessels with high risk of violating IUU fishing, conduct a list and organise special monitoring and supervision to prevent the violation in foreign waters.

According to Nguyen Van Huan, deputy Director of Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of small-scale, old and poorly equipped boats as well as the not synchronous fishery infrastructure of the local fishing industry, it is difficult for local fishing vessels to apply advanced management methods.

As some vessels don’t dock at designated fishing ports,  it is also difficult to collect and submit of fishing reports, logs and monitoring of production, inspection of fishing vessels at the ports.

At the same time, Cua Viet fishing port facilities do not meet the demand for docking for many fishing vessels at one time while there is no wharf with a roof as prescribed for vessels to load and unload and classify seafood.

Huan said one of the difficulties in combating IUU fishing is the fact that Quang Tri fishermen regularly operate in the fishing grounds of Hoang Sa and the Northeast of Con Co island, which are the places with unclear mark between local and foreign countries, adding it is difficult to inform and guide them to not violate foreign waters.

He said: “The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will coordinate with the Provincial Border Guard Command in inspecting and sanctioning administrative violations in the fisheries sector, especially strictly handling fishing vessels that do not install monitoring equipment or do not turn on the machine or not maintain operation 24 / 24h; not marking themselves as fishing vessels, do not submit fishing diary and report.”

Currently, Quang Tri has submitted a request to the Directorate of Fisheries to provide the delimitation map of the maritime boundaries of Vietnam and other countries to inform fishermen to avoid violating foreign waters fishing.

At the same time, it is suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development provide guidance for the fishing activities in case of the limited fishing areas from the regulations.