Their efforts are expected to help speed up the removal of the EC’s “yellow card” warning against Vietnam's seafood exports, especially when an inspection team of the EC is scheduled to return to Vietnam in April to examine the country's anti-IUU fishing moves.
During his working visit to the Coast Guard high Command on April 3, Phuong said that in the coming time, National Assembly agencies will continue to study and propose amendments, supplements, and completion of a legal framework to create favourable conditions for the Coast Guard to fulfill its tasks.
Major General Le Quang Dao, Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard, reported the force's performance of its tasks in 2022 and the first months of 2023.
Specifically, coast guard ships detected and prevented thousands of foreign fishing vessels from entering Vietnam's territorial waters. In 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, the coast guard saved six vehicles and 71 people in distress at sea and organised regular combat training as planned.
The force detected, arrested, and handled 1,256 violations with 1,548 involved people; of which 101 cases with 108 violators were prosecuted. It handled 838 administrative violations with 956 violators. The Vietnam Coast Guard coordinated with other forces to detect, handle and hand over 110 cases with 176 involved people.
Fines for administrative violations and the estimated value of confiscated exhibits reached more than 120 billion VND (5.1 million USD). The coast guard force inspected, controlled, made minutes, and sanctioned administrative violations relating to IUU fishing, collecting a total fine of over 2.9 billion VND.
