A fishing vessel (Photo: VNA) Deputy Director of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development Pham Thi Na said the provincialauthorities had directed relevant forces to intensify inspections of fishing ships, especially before their departure and after their landing at ports. The province also set up a coordination mechanism with the Vietnam Coast Guards and the HighCommand of Military Zone II to detect and handle vesselsthat commit IUU fishing.
The department also set up representative offices at fishingports, with staff from the Border Guards and Fisheries Sub-Department , tocheck all outgoing and incoming vessels.
Deputy Director of the Phu Yen provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tri Phuong said the province has prevented violations of foreign waters by closely monitoring vessels through Vessel Monitoring Systems and by having all captains signed commitments to not violating foreign waters.
Statistics showed that Vietnam is now home to nearly 92,000fishing vessels. As of late September, over 95% of them were equipped withmonitoring devices, up nearly 5% from the previous month.
Seafood caught outside Vietnam’s waters are ensured tofollow Vietnam’s law and the Agreement on Port State Measures, thusfacilitating the management and licensing of aquatic products for export to theEuropean Union.
Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exportersand Producers (VASEP) and head of the IUU VASEP Executive Board Nguyen Thi ThuSac suggested that the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) give priority to technology solutions to modern fishingmanagement and improve the process of granting relevant papers such as fishingdatabase and e-diary.
She proposed the Government, MARD, cities and provincesprioritise investment in the marine-based economy, including increasing thenumber of qualified fishing ports and making further investment ininfrastructure, equipment, workforce and management personnel training for IUU combat.
Leaders of ministries, agencies and 28 centrally-run coastalcities and provinces must raise their sense of responsibility for the issue,considering it an urgent and priority task.
An EC delegation will visit Vietnam at the end of October to inspect the fight of IUU fishing.
Each year, Vietnam earned 1-1.4 billion USD fromexporting aquatic products to the EU, or 15-17% of the total export value of those products./.
VNA
