Hanoi (VNA) - The European Uunion (EU) is set to rule thismonth on the Vietnamese seafood industry’s compliance with its regulations on illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and the US has just announced newrules relating to the same issue.

Facing scrutiny from the two significant seafoodmarkets, Vietnamese seafood exporters are anxious, and worried that both theirfellow companies and the Government aren’t doing enough to meet importers’requirements.

Earlier this year, the EU fisheriesworking group announced that Vietnam is likely to receive a yellow card from EUinspectors, particularly if it did not fulfill IUU fishing requirements relatedto anti-mining. Such a ruling could have far-reaching implications for thecountry’s seafood exporters. September 30 was the deadline for Vietnam to showimprovements on the requirements, and the ruling will be issued at the meetingon October 20 by the EU mission to the Government Office, Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, VASEP and some agencies related to IUU.

A yellow card creates nervousness amongEU retailers about seafood imported from that country, and they may look elsewhereto buy. Other import markets will also strengthen checks of seafood exported bythat country. If a country gets a red card, its seafood products will be bannedin the EU.

Chairman of Thuan Phuoc Seafood andTrading JSC Tran Van Linh said that although the company’s exports of seafoodto EU account for less than 10 percent of the total export value, the companyhas still been working with other enterprises to fight against IUU fishing.

“If the EU issues a ‘yellow card’ to Vietnam,it will affect the image and reputation of Vietnam’s seafood export in theworld market,” said Linh.

[Exporters anxious to fight illegal fishing]

According to a list provided by the VietnamAssociation of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), 57 Vietnamesebusinesses have committed to combat IUU fishing. These enterprises will onlypurchase seafood from licensed fishing vessels and only import legallyexploited seafood. The list includes several businesses that have neverexported to the EU, but want to demonstrate the Vietnamese fishing community’scommitment to addressing the problem.

But some of the committed companies saytheir efforts alone aren’t enough. Vo Quang Vinh, deputy general director ofCau Tre Company, which has been exporting seafood to the EU for over 20 yearsand joined the VASEP list, said State action is necessary to protect thereputation of Vietnamese seafood.

“The EU does not just judge basedon a few firms but on the whole community, including many other businesses thatare exporting to the EU,” said Vinh. “Therefore, if only some enterprises inthe process of participation in the assessment do not meet the requirementswill affect the entire seafood businesses.”

He said the State needed to enact clearregulations to guarantee that the origin of fishing vessels is easilytraceable.

Experts from VASEP said that businessesneed to set up an alliance to meet the requirements of food safety,traceability and operational transparency at every step of the seafoodproduction process.

At the same time, enterprises shouldstrictly implement internal regulations, such as not buying seafood fromillegal fishing vessels, fishing without licences or fishing with prohibitedtools. Such regulations can protect the reputation of Vietnam seafood in theworld market.

Speed is important, as the US is alsoset to enact new regulations to eliminate IUU-caught seafood among its imports.The US regulations are part of the SeafoodImport Monitoring Programme, which establishes reporting and recordkeepingrequirements to prevent IUU-caught and or misrepresented seafood from enteringUS commerce, with the goal of protecting the national economy, global foodsecurity and the sustainability of shared ocean resources. The USregulations will take effect on January 1, 2018.-VNA