Deputy Prime Minister: Establish an interdisciplinary working group to resolve IUU issues

Strictly handle violating fishing vessels

At a working session with the Fishing Vessel Monitoring Center chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan on the afternoon of August 7, Director of the Department of Fisheries Surveillance Nguyen Quang Hung stated the current situation and shared some solutions to prevent and handle violations of IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated seafood exploitation).

With the responsibility of the permanent unit, Mr. Hung said that from now until around October 2024, there are 3 issues that need attention: the number of violating fishing vessels, the VMS connection loss rate (accounting for only 1.5%) and penalties are still low.

According to Mr. Hung, the first and core solution is to strictly punish IUU violations at the local level, "without mercy", along with combining with the media to raise awareness of fishermen.

Mr. Hung also stated that the participation of some localities is still limited, as shown by the data of violating fishing vessels. Meanwhile, the human resources of the Department of Fisheries, Fisheries Control, and the local Fisheries Branch are not enough to deploy.

Therefore, the Director of the Fisheries Supervision Department said that the focus is still on the border guard force and proposed to further strengthen the border guard force at sea routes, controlling the input and output of fishing vessels so that fishermen do not repeat violations.

Regarding the Ministry of Public Security, after the Prime Minister's Official Telegram No. 49, the leader of the Department of Economic Security said that he had directed 28 coastal provinces to deploy, synchronize, and notify the situation. The Ministry has also coordinated with ministries, departments, branches and localities to strictly handle brokerage organizations, connecting fishing vessels and fishermen for illegal fishing and legalizing seafood export documents. At the same time, the Ministry of Public Security also coordinates with competent agencies to propagate people to comply with the law. In addition, the Ministry of Public Security actively deploys identification on fishing vessels. Regarding the current urgent focus, the representative of the Ministry of Public Security said that there needs to be coordination and improvement between facilities as well as technical improvement.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said that the ministry has implemented Official Dispatch No. 49 to work with businesses, thereby determining the technical cause of the VMS connection loss problem.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Huy Dung pledged that from now until the end of October, the Ministry of Information and Communications will not cut off the connections of fishermen. In addition, in case the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to mobilize information technology forces, the Ministry of Information and Communications affirms that it will support emergency connection.

Dispatch human resources to help localities

Minister Le Minh Hoan emphasized that there are only about 3 months left to welcome the European Commission (EC) delegation to Vietnam to inspect IUU fishing for the 5th time, expected in October 2024.

In particular, fisheries management is a national issue that needs attention, especially in the new era of science and technology including artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and information technology.

The leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that it is necessary to frankly acknowledge the problem that "no one sector can independently solve it", instead, "it requires smooth, continuous and inter-sectoral coordination" in solving fisheries management problems.

The Minister proposed to establish an interdisciplinary working group consisting of members from the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development... to meet directly and regularly to resolve IUU issues.

In addition, the Commander of the Agriculture Sector assigned the Department of Fisheries and the Department of Fisheries Surveillance to mobilize human resources to be dispatched for 3 months to localities to resolve the problem of fishing vessels to provide transparency in handling IUU fishing vessels and support local forces in handling violations.

"There is a need for special regulations and special tasks to mobilize forces within 3 months to work with violating ship owners and resolve the problem before the inspection. After this deadline, we will consider continuing to deploy human resources to monitor and control fishing vessels", the Minister suggested.

In addition, it is necessary to focus on propaganda about fishing vessel monitoring software so that fishermen are aware of close supervision during their journeys out to sea and avoid subjective violations. Install equipment with large screens in the fishing port area to remind and raise awareness of fishing vessels going out to sea on the issue of IUU violations...

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said that there is not much time left. If the IUU problem is not thoroughly resolved, not only will the seafood export industry be severely affected, but the country's image and position will also decline.

The Deputy Prime Minister assessed that the issue of dealing with IUU in recent times has had positive changes. Before the 5th EC inspection, The Deputy Prime Minister requested to maximize the effectiveness of the work being done and coordinated. In addition, using the VMS system most effectively in the remaining time (including the time it takes for the EC to prepare the report to make the final announcement results).

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense and service providers to resolve technical issues within their capabilities; guide localities on technical issues; connect with the Ministry of Defense to exchange necessary data.

The Deputy Prime Minister agreed with Minister Le Minh Hoan's proposal to establish an interdisciplinary working group to handle the IUU issue.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Information and Communications to ensure that businesses do not cut off satellite waves from now until the EC has a final decision on this issue.

It is recommended that the Ministry of Public Security direct the provincial police to research cases that can be handled in the field of VMS connection loss, in the spirit of Resolution 04 of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court.

Request the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide coordinates for the electronic nautical chart of the fishing vessel monitoring system. It is recommended that the Ministry of National Defense continue to direct border guards to strictly control ships entering and leaving ports.