Kien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is ramping up actions to thoroughly deal with ineligible fishing vessels, in an effort to enhance fishing management, protect marine fishery resources, and help with the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The number of licensed fishing vessels accounts for 95.7% of the total at present. Among them, more than 99.4% of those at least 15m long have been equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS) while the remainders are idle and haven’t been installed with VMS, reported the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province’s sub-department for fishery resources surveillance is quickly completing procedures to put over 2,000 unregistered vessels into registration and management. It is also working to examine, mark, register, and grant fishing licences to more than 2,700 with “three no’s” (no examination, no licences, no registration).

The large number of the “three no’s” has caused difficulties to the management and monitoring of fishing vessels, thus affecting the implementation of the European Commission (EC)’s recommendations about IUU fishing prevention and control.

The agriculture department attributed the problem to the fact that many local fishermen worked faraway for a long time and did not make timely declaration, and some traded or transferred vessels but did not conduct relevant procedures.

Uncontrolled fleet expansion and overfishing, resulting in the depletion of marine resources off the coast of Kien Giang, have also led to some vessels’ illegal operations in foreign waters, Co Hong Khoi, head of the fishery resources surveillance sub-department, pointed out.

During the first half of 2024, local authorities handled hundreds of cases of IUU fishing-related acts, imposing fines of over 19.6 billion VND (771,600 USD).

To sustainably develop the fisheries sector, Truong Van Ngu, Chairman of the Fisheries Society of Kien Giang’s Rach Gia city, proposed the province comprehensively carry out urgent measures to recover and develop marine resources, and encourage the fishermen working in inshore areas to adopt new livelihoods.

He also called for stronger coordination among relevant sectors and localities to boost patrol to prevent overexploitation, protect marine reserves, stringently deal with violations, enhance law enforcement, and resolutely prevent ineligible vessels from operating.

To assist with the IUU fishing combat, Le Huu Toan, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Kien Giang will scale down the fishing fleet, reduce small vessels operating in inshore areas, encourage the shift to environmentally friendly practices, improve fishery resources conservation and development capacity, and raise public awareness of the work.

ꦚ The province has also released fry into the sea to recover fishery resources annually and established marine protected areas, he said./.