Criticized by the Prime Minister, Ba Ria - Vung Tau aggressively combats IUU fishing

Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial People's Committee, has recently chaired a meeting of the Party Civil Affairs Committee with the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with other departments and branches, on the situation of combating IUU fishing. The online meeting connected to the bridge points of the People's Committees of Dat Do and Xuyen Moc districts.

Ms. Pham Thi Na, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Ba Ria-Vung Tau has overcome the situation of fishing vessels violating illegal seafood exploitation in foreign waters. Currently, the total number of registered fishing vessels in the province is 4,578, a decrease of 82 vessels being deregistered. Of which, 2,745 ships operate in the oceanic zone, 642 ships operate in offshore areas, and 1,191 ships operate in coastal areas.

As of now, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has had 132 more fishing vessels licensed to exploit seafood, increasing the total number of licensed fishing vessels throughout the province to 3,490. Similarly, the total number of registered fishing vessels is 2,587, an increase of 267 ships.

“The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with functional sectors and localities to monitor and manage the group of fishing vessels anchored near shore; review the group of fishing vessels that are missing, sunk, or no longer exist to remove registration and verification. At the same time, the units also verify cases where ships are sold out of the locality or the ship owner is no longer in the locality," said Deputy Director Pham Thi Na.

In addition, as for groups of fishing vessels that are still capable of operating, ship owners will be disseminated and mobilized to comply with legal regulations on fisheries, thereby quickly carrying out registration and inspection procedures, installing cruise monitoring equipment, and being issued with food safety certificates and seafood exploitation licenses.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s functional sector also regularly assigns and arranges for human resources to be on duty round-the-clock at shore stations located at the Sub-Department of Fisheries and the Provincial Border Guard Command. This helps to monitor and supervise 100% of fishing vessels operating at sea.

Since the beginning of 2024, through monitoring, tracing, and investigating, the functional force has discovered and sent messages directly to 6,673 fishing vessels that lost connection at sea for 6 hours and 179 cases of fishing vessels losing connection over 10 days.

The functional agencies also handled 33 cases and 34 subjects that are mainly related to violations of cruise monitoring, with a total amount of VND 822 million. As for 1,095 "three no" fishing vessels, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a temporary management plan while waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to amend and supplement the Circular guiding on dismantling and completely handling the registration and management work.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, requested that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Provincial Border Guard Command, and localities further strengthen coordination in reviewing and thoroughly handling groups of fishing vessels whose registration has expired, fishing vessels lying ashore, and vessels losing connection for more than 10 days.

The Chairman of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial People's Committee also requested to tighten the traceability for issuing export licenses at ports, handle violating fishing ports, and install long-range cameras to manage the activities of fishing vessels entering and exiting ports. For "three no" fishing vessels, continue the plan of temporarily numbering the output of seafood unloaded through the port for management.

Previously, in an official telegram dated November 4, 2023, the Prime Minister reminded Ba Ria-Vung Tau province that the province lacks attention and is still neglectful in directing and organizing the fight against IUU fishing. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested Ba Ria-Vung Tau province to organize a review of responsibilities, strictly handle relevant organizations and individuals according to regulations, and report to the Prime Minister.