A delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) examined its implementation of the European Commission (EC)’s recommendations about IUU fishing prevention on August 23.
Speaking at the meeting with local officials, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien highly valued Tra Vinh’s efforts in carry out different solutions to weaknesses and shortcomings related to IUU fishing.
The province now records no fishing vessels or fishermen infringing foreign waters, local authorities said.
About 95% of the 1,141 local fishing vessels have been licensed. Up to 234 of the 264 vessels that are 15 metres long and over subject to vessel monitoring system installation have been equipped with the system, while the remaining 30 stopped operations.
Tra Vinh has stepped up inspection and examination of the exploitation and protection of fishery resources. Since the year’s beginning, authorities examined 179 vessels and fined 16 cases nearly 190 million VND (8,100 USD) for administrative violations.
Fishing ports’ management boards have also complied with regulations on material certification, seafood loading, fishing-related documents, and ship arrival and departure examination.
The MARD delegation said granting fishing licenses is crucial, so local authorities need to step up licensing the remaining 58 fishing vessels. The province should also work to repair or eliminate the 30 ships that have stopped working.
Nguyen Trung Hoang, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, proposed ministries and central agencies open training courses to help the cadres working on IUU fishing prevention improve their capacity.
He also called on the MARD to assist Tra Vinh to carry out a project on upgrading the Dinh An fishing port in Tra Cu district and another on industrial shrimp farming in Duyen Hai district. The two projects are part of a project on developing essential infrastructure facilities for climate adaptation in agriculture in the Mekong Delta.
Home to a 65km coastline, Tra Vinh posted 222,527 tonnes of fishery output in 2021, including 151,442 tonnes from aquaculture and another 71,085 tonnes from fishing. It looks to raise the output to 235,115 tonnes this year, including 63,545 tonnes from fishing.
