Kien Giang launches emulation campaign to combat illegal fishing

The emulation movement comprises two phases, from January to May and from June to December 2023. It targets collectives and individuals of authorised forces based in Kien Giang, including Naval Region 5, Coast Guard Region 4, Maritime Border Guard Unit 28, and Fisheries Resources Surveillance Region 5, along with districts and cities across the province.

The campaign focuses on promoting all-level Party committees and administrations’ sense of responsibility towards combatting IUU fishing, and increasing the dissemination of the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, along with the State’s policies and laws on sustainable fisheries development and anti-IUU fishing among cadres and local residents.

They must also focus on ramping up law enforcement, the settlement of violations, and the prevention of local fishing vessels from infringing foreign waters; properly conducting examinations and monitoring; and implementing the certification of seafood origins in line with rules.

Le Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman of the Kien Giang People’s Committee and standing deputy head of the province’s steering committee for anti-IUU fishing, said the emulation movement aims to effectively carry out legal regulations on fisheries so as to reduce and eradicate IUU fishing, thus contributing to Vietnam’s common efforts to remove the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning.

Kien Giang is applying itself to implementing the Government’s 180-day plan of action against IUU fishing. In this action plan, the Prime Minister demanded that by the end of May, localities must have put an end to illegal fishing in foreign waters, investigated and dealt with all cases of Vietnamese fishing vessels seized abroad, and imposed penalties on all IUU fishing cases.

The province is home to a sea area of more than 63,000sq.km, part of the historical waters between Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as part of the overlapping waters between Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. It also boasts about 200km of coastline, a large number of river mouths and canals leading to the sea, and more than 140 islands and islets./.