Authorities of the central localities of Da Nang and Quang Binh are accelerating inspections and control of local fisheries activities to join national efforts in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, towards having the European Commission (EC)'s “yellow card” warning against Vietnam's seafood exports lifted.
The People’s Committee of Da Nang city has issued document under which departments, sectors, relevant localities and local fisheries management units have been ordered to continue to concertedly and seriously implement a plan for preventing and combat IUU fishing in the 2023-2025 period.
It requested relevant agencies to step up communications activities and organise training courses to update fishermen on relevant regulations, thus timely detecting and handling violations relating to IUU fishing. Inspection and supervision of organisations, individuals, and units directly involved in the task of combating IUU fishing have been strengthened.
As scheduled, an EC delegation will have working sessions with local authorities from May 23-29, focusing on inspecting issues relate to controlling fishing vessels' infringement of foreign waters, managing the entry and exit of fishing vessels and their operation at sea and the installation of vessel monitoring system for fishing boats, and the certification of seafood shipments exported to Europe.
The delegation will work with one or two enterprises exporting seafood to Europe to check the certification of raw materials exploited in Vietnamese waters and imported materials for producing seafood for export to Europe.
In the central province of Quang Binh, the local sub-department for fisheries coordinated with the provincial border guards in the sea to deploy patrols and control activities at sea, thus thoroughly preventing IUU fishing activities in an attempt to lift the EC's “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood. Le Van Thao, deputy head of the legal inspection office of the sub-department, said that the patrols have contributed to calling on local fishermen to comply with provisions of the Fisheries Law, and preventing IUU fishing.
According Thao, a series of measures have been implemented to combat IUU fishing, focusing on strictly controlling the operation of fishing vessels. So far, as many as 3,544 fishing vessels with a length of 6m and above have registered, reaching 94.7%; and 1,128 boats with a length of 15m or more installed with vessel monitoring systems, equivalent to 94.8% of the total.
