Establishing a Fisheries Control Force is necessary and urgent

During a discussion session on the morning of July 13 (the second working day of the 10^th session, XVIII term of the Quang Binh Provincial People's Council), Mai Van Minh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, mentioned the fight against IUU fishing and the establishment of the Fisheries control is a necessary and urgent task.

In Quang Binh, there were three errors that the EC warned about violations of foreign waters, incomplete declaration of fishing logs, and output through the port.

Quang Binh has nearly 6,800 fishing boats, including almost 3,600 fishing vessels with a length of over 6m. Strictly managing fishing vessels has been implemented, resulting in 3,553 registered vessels, reaching 98.9% (fishing vessels under 6m, according to regulations, are not registered). More than 3,100 fishing vessels are marking, going over 86%, and 982 fishing vessels are being granted food safety certificates (for vessels of 15m or more), reaching over 84%.

Through the review, most fishing boats are inactive and undergoing conversion. The localities and units have made a list of fishing vessels that have not been installed to monitor and refuse to operate until they have been remedied.

Quang Binh Fishing Port Management Board has inspected and supervised fishing vessels and the volume of loading and unloading through the port. Accordingly, 100% of ships docked and unloaded seafood through the port, with 451 boats and a total volume of 363 tons. Fishing vessels docked and emptied seafood 1 hour in advance and submitted logs and reports on the catch.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has established a representative office of Quang Binh Fisheries Inspection and Control to inspect fishing vessels docked at Nhat Le fishing port, Gianh River, departing at Nhat Le, Gianh, and Gioon as guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Since the beginning of the year, the Office has inspected 851 ships, ensuring the inspection rate according to regulations.

Law enforcement, inspection and handling of violations have been strengthened. In the first 6 months of 2023, the functional forces handled 63 violating fishing boats, fined over VND 700 million, and confiscated 7 sets of electric generators.

"In particular, the Sub-Department of Fisheries has sanctioned 15 fishing vessel owners who violated regulations on monitoring fishing vessels, a total fine of VND 360 million; The provincial border guards seized a fishing boat illegally storing explosives and handed it over to the provincial police agency for handling," said Mai Van Minh.

Besides the achieved results, some shortcomings and limitations still need to be overcome soon. Many fishing vessels do not have a fishing license or have an expired license, have not registered fishing vessels, have expired registration, have not marked fishing vessels, and have not installed cruise monitoring equipment.

The recording and submission of fishing diaries have not met the requirements. The situation of fishing vessels crossing the sea boundary and losing connection has not been wholly prevented; overfishing and IUU fishing violations still occur.

One of the reasons for the above situation is that no specialized organization enforces the law on the exploitation and protection of aquatic resources at sea like the Fisheries Control Force. Moreover, after the Law on Inspection 2022 took effect on July 1, 2023, the specialized inspection force at the Sub-Departments of Fisheries no longer exists.

"Therefore, it is necessary and urgent to establish a Fisheries Control Department based on organization and rearrangement of specialized departments under the Sub-Department of Fisheries," emphasized Mai Van Minh.

Removing theIUU "yellow card" this year is Viet Nam’s goal and is determined to change the country’s fisheries in a more sustainable direction.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will give strict fines to fishing vessels involved in illegal fishing with the aim of removing the European Commission's illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention or “yellow card” on fishing, said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien. In the first half this year, Viet Nam recorded only 14 cases of violations of regulations against IUU fishing.