Many models and solutions to remove the EC’s “yellow card” – Vietnam Fisheries Magazine

Many changes

Binh Thuan currently has over 8,300 fishing vessels with a length of 6m or more operating aquaculture activities; Of which 1,960 ships exploit offshore areas, more than 1,900 ships exploit coastal areas and nearly 2,100 ships exploit coastal areas.

Strengthen coordination to manage and control fishing vessels and fishermen of the province and other provincial vessels. Photo: N. Lan

In 2018, Binh Thuan was the first province to issue Directive 30-CT/TU dated January 16, 2018 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee (term XIII) related to the fight against IUU fishing. Special attention is paid to the management and prevention of illegal fishing vessels and fishermen in foreign waters. Binh Thuan is the first province to issue Directive 30-CT/TU dated January 16, 2018 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee (term XIII) related to the fight against IUU fishing. In particular, emphasis was placed on the management and prevention of fishing vessels and fishermen in the province illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters. Thanks to that, over the years, this work has had many positive changes. The situation of fishing vessels and fishermen violating foreign waters has been minimized and initially prevented. From January 2018 to February 2024, there were 19 incidents in the whole province, down 32 incidents compared to the previous time, most concentrated in La Gi town (20 ships), the rest were in Phu Quy, Ham Tan and Tuy Phong. The handling of fishing vessels violating foreign waters is taken seriously. The Provincial Border Guard Command has issued a decision to sanction administrative violations against the captains of 7 fishing vessels for the act of sending fishing vessels, Vietnamese fishermen go fishing in foreign waters with a salary of 85 million VND per captain; The Provincial People’s Committee issued a decision to impose administrative penalties on 3 fishing vessel owners violating foreign waters with a fine of 900 million VND/fishing vessel.

In addition to administrative sanctions, local authorities also apply additional penalties to fishermen for allowing fishing vessels to violate IUU, such as: stripping their fishing licenses and removing them from the list of fishing vessels. registration policy for offshore activities, stopping the implementation of support policies for fishing vessels; Publicly announce on mass media and organize reviews of fishing boat owners and captains of violations in front of the community. Thanks to that, over the years, the anti-IUU work has had many positive changes, the situation of fishing vessels and fishermen violating foreign waters has been reduced and initially prevented.

Deploy solutions synchronously

Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Hong Hai said that: Management at sea and control of offshore fishing fleets still have many difficulties, so fishing vessels and fishermen violate foreign waters to exploit foreign waters. Illegal exploitation and purchasing of seafood caught and handled by foreign countries has decreased sharply, but still occurs. Therefore, departments, branches, and coastal localities must be more drastic and synchronize solutions to prevent and end this situation, especially during the peak time of the 5th EC inspection in Vietnam. Male. Timely detection and early and remote prevention of acts of sending fishing vessels and fishermen to exploit seafood in violation of foreign waters. Continue to investigate, verify, consolidate records, and handle the behavior of organizations and individuals with acts of brokering and connecting fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit seafood.

According to Binh Thuan Fisheries Department, the province is a pioneer in “wiping out” fishing boats with “3 nos” (no registration, no inspection, no fishing license) – one of the important recommendations of the EC. in removing the “yellow card” for Vietnamese seafood. To date, more than 2,000 “3 no” fishing vessels throughout the province have been granted temporary registration for monitoring and management.

In addition, in order to support fishermen in far-flung waters without violating foreign territorial waters, the Standing Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee has agreed to support the subscription fee for satellite service and cruise monitoring equipment (VMS). ) for over 2,000 fishing boats in the area. “Each fisherman’s fishing boat is supported with 2.2 million VND/year, the support period is 3 years, which has created very favorable conditions for our fishermen to feel secure at sea, without worrying about crossing foreign boundaries. “, Mr. Phan Dinh Quy (fisherman in Phan Thiet City) expressed.

In addition to common efforts, many fishing communities and authorities of Binh Thuan province have deployed many models and solutions to join the whole country in quickly removing the EC’s “yellow card”. Among them, models such as “Each border guard monitors 3 fishing vessels” at Phuoc Hoi Border Guard station (La Gi town), rapid response group in Phu Quy island district, IUU monitoring team (Tan Thuan commune, Phu Quy district) Ham Thuan Nam) has been effective in preventing IUU locally.

Bui Dinh