Deputy Minister inspects Hai Phong's fight against IUU fishing

Tien said the city has shown improvements compared to the inspection last year, such as a higher number of licensed operating ships and pioneering policies in the installation of the Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS).

However, there are still cases of fishing vessels operating in wrong designated areas, and the city's handling of violations has not been fully effective yet, he added.

Vu Ba Cong, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city currently has 890 active fishing vessels registered on the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).

In the first seven months of this year, the total number of fishing vessels that lost communication at sea was 171, including 102 vessels that were reconnected as per regulations. The local authorities had sufficient grounds to impose administrative penalties on five vessels and did not have evidence to fine 16 other vessels. They are currently investigating and monitoring 48 vessels.

The city has so far imposed administrative fines worth 718 million VND (31,200 USD).

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Tho said in the near future, the city will continue directing relevant agencies and localities to raise fishermen and local officials’ awareness of the Government, agriculture sector and the city’s directions regarding IUU combat.

The city also wants to receive timely support from relevant agencies to fulfill its tasks in the fight against IUU fishing, he said.