Agency heads that allow fishing vessels to violate will be appropriately sanctioned

Recently, the Prime Minister criticized the four provinces of Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, and Kien Giang for continuing to allow local fishing vessels to violate foreign waters at the beginning of 2023, and demanded that the provinces organize a serious review, clearly define the responsibilities of the heads of localities and relevant units, and report to the Prime Minister before May 15, 2023.

Regarding this incident, Mr. Nguyen Tan Tuan, Chairman of Khanh Hoa People's Committee, requested that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the provincial Border Guard Command, the Chairman of the People's Committee of districts and communes where the situation of fishermen violating the illegal fishing of foreign waters occurs to organize a serious review and clearly identify the responsibility of the head of each agency and unit. The Chairman of the Khanh Hoa People's Committee also assigned the Department of Home Affairs to advise the provincial People's Committee on specific handling methods for each department, branch, and locality and report to the provincial People's Committee before May 10.

According to the report of the Khanh Hoa Sub-Department of Fisheries, since the beginning of the year, Khanh Hoa has had one fishing vessel seized by Malaysian patrols, which is the ship KH 00386 TS with Mrs. Phan Thi Dieu, Phuoc Dong commune (Nha Trang city) as the owner and Mr. Nguyen Den (Mrs. Dieu's husband) as the captain.

To be more specific, this fishing vessel operates in troll fishing with a length of 13.9 m, an engine capacity of 39 CV, and no requirement to install cruise monitoring equipment. On December 23, 2021, this fishing vessel departed from Hon Ro Border Guard Station (Nha Trang City) and entered the waters of Ba Ria- Vung Tau for fishing activities.

On the voyage on January 8, 2023, Mrs. Dieu’s fishing vessel departed from Ben Da Control Station (Ba Ria-Vung Tau) with six crew members. At 2:20 pm on January 12, 2023, the ship KH 00386 TS was pursued by a Malaysian patrol boat, then approached and arrested the ship along with six crew members. During the pursuit, the ship's captain contacted and asked the coast guard ship for assistance. Up to this point, this fishing vessel is no longer in contact.

On March 8, the Sub-Department of Fisheries invited the ship's owner to work, verify, and know that Mr. Nguyen Den had called to report to his wife that a Malaysian patrol boat was arresting the ship. The Sub-Department of Fisheries reported the incident to the Agency of Fisheries Surveillance, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. Currently, the Sub-Department continues to wait for the results of the clarification and verification of the case.

Strictly controlling fishing vessels entering and leaving the port

In order to overcome the existing shortcomings as recommended by the European Commission (EC) and carefully prepare the content and conditions for the 4th working session with the EC’s Inspection Delegation scheduled on May 25-31, the head of Khanh Hoa People's Committee also requested departments, branches, and People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to continue to seriously, synchronously and effectively implement the action plan against the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 81 dated February 13, 2023 with a high spirit of concentration, absolutely not neglecting, being subjective, caught off guard in leadership and direction, as well as being proactive and drastic in action.

The provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the provincial Border Guard Command, the Provincial Police, the People's Committees of the districts, towns, and cities, and relevant agencies and units depending on their assigned functions and tasks, directing, verifying, promptly detecting, and severely sanctioning organizations and individuals that intentionally commit acts of illegal fishing in accordance with the law.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the provincial Border Guard Command and the People's Committees of the coastal districts, towns, and cities, especially Nha Trang city, are required to strictly control fishing vessels entering and leaving the port while supervising the volume of fish caught and unloaded through the port, complying with regulations on verification, certification, and traceability of fisheries’ origin.

Investigating, verifying, and thoroughly handling violations are also required tasks. For cases with sufficient grounds for criminal punishment, it is necessary to investigate and prosecute in accordance with the law, especially for acts of intentionally violating regulations on IUU fishing and record legalization for seafood export shipments. Besides, the relevant departments and branches need to actively mobilize, second, and allocate enough human resources and funds to ensure the implementation of the anti-IUU task for local fisheries management agencies, especially at fishing ports.