100% of fishing boats in Ca Mau have cruise monitoring equipment

Mr. Chau Cong Bang, Deputy Director of Ca Mau Department of MARD said: Management works against IUU fishing of Ca Mau province have been very drastic, meeting both the requirements and recommendations of the EC.

According to Mr. Bang, over the years, illegal fishing in the province has gradually decreased. Especially, the number of fishing boats exploiting foreign waters has decreased sharply. In 2021, 8 ships exploiting foreign waters were caught in Ca Mau, but in the first 5 months of 2022, there are only 2 fishing vessels with violations. 

These results come from the determination in organizing propaganda and dissemination of regulations combating illegal fishing. At the moment, the majority of fishermen have complied with Vietnam's laws on combating IUU fishing. Fishermen also understand how they will be handled if caught fishing in foreign waters.

Mr. Chau Cong Bang assumed that: To carry out illegal fishing according to EC's recommendation, for the Management Board of fishing ports, Ca Mau province needs to regularly direct its fishing ports to propagate fishermen, captains, and ship owners not to catch in foreign waters.

Simultaneously, ships need to strictly comply with regulations on installing cruise monitoring equipment and loading and unloading goods… Ships docking at the port need to strictly comply with the regulations on declaring the logging log and information on each fish species caught. Thereby, ports can control ships that violate foreign waters or ships with high risks of violation and handle them according to regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Fisheries, stated: It is necessary to implement the plan of MARD to supervise the situation against IUU fishing and enforce the Fisheries Law in provinces to overcome the shortcomings and limitations that the EC has previously raised for Vietnam.

In Ca Mau province, there are about 5,000 fishing vessels, of which about 1,600 are fishing on the high seas. Mr. Hung assessed that, during the 5 years of implementing anti-IUU fishing, Ca Mau province initially made many efforts, efforts, and progress. 

In particular, the Provincial Party Committee and the People's Committee of Ca Mau province have issued many documents directing the implementation of the Prime Minister's instructions as well as the instructions of MARD. The control of fishing vessels in and out of ports has gradually received more attention. At present, Ca Mau has 100% of fishing vessels fitted with cruise monitoring equipment (1,529/1,529 ships).

However, there are still many limitations such as the collection of shipping logs in Ca Mau province is only about 70%. Yield control amounts to about 42% of the total catch. There are still currently 2 fishing vessels with violations in foreign waters.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries said: After the inspection at the beginning of May 2022, the Directorate of Fisheries will send an advisory letter to MARD and then send it to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province for attention in the drastic implementation. As well as synchronizing solutions to overcome the limitations in the inspection process mentioned above.

This includes the control of fishing vessels, registration, a guaranteed 100% licensing of fishing vessels, and finding a more effective solution to completely stop the situation of fishing vessels violating foreign waters.

The organization of fisheries management at port needs to be more complete: keeping a logbook, controlling the catches, and having solutions to manage ports, including private grade 3 fishing ports with the province's annual exploitation quantity of about 230,000 tons.

It is necessary to control the file of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port, and resolutely ban fishing vessels from leaving the port without ensuring safe conditions as well as conditions for fishing in offshore areas.

Mr. Ngo Chieu Sang, Deputy Director of Song Doc Fishing Port, said that through the propaganda work, the captains, fishermen, and ship owners have complied well with the law. But it must be admitted that there are still a few who have not fully grasped the regulations on fishing against IUU exploitation, so it is necessary to continue propaganda.