Future for sustainable fishery: Quang Ninh is ready to welcome the EC's inspection delegation

Important and urgent tasks

In October 2017, the European Commission (EC) announced the application of the "yellow card" warning measure to Vietnam's exploited seafood products for export to the EU. The reason given by the EC is that Vietnam has not controlled the fleet, leading to the increase in Vietnamese fishing vessels violating foreign waters, and has not controlled the legality of exploited seafood products exported to the EU market.

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Activities of the illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels have greatly affected the maintenance and conservation of aquatic resources and biodiversity, especially having serious environmental and socio-economic impacts.

Recently, in order to overcome the shortcomings and limitations according to the EC's recommendations to remove the IUU "yellow card," Quang Ninh province has mobilized many resources and directed interdisciplinary forces to drastically participate. After nearly 8 years of implementation, Quang Ninh's fisheries sector has made many positive and significant changes.

Specifically, since 2017, Quang Ninh has had no fishing vessels violating fishing in foreign waters. Up to now, fishing vessels in the province have completed the registration and inspection.

Along with that, 100% of fishing vessels with a length of 15 m or more have performed the installation of cruise monitoring equipment (VMS). Every day, the Quang Ninh Department of Agriculture and Environment extracts the information of fishing vessels losing the signal of the offshore VMS connection, notifies the relevant units, and guides and supports ship owners to overcome the loss of the VMS connection signal.

Many fishing vessels, after being notified, guided, and supported, have had signal connections. In addition, every week, the Department makes a list of fishing vessels at risk of violating IUU fishing and losing offshore connection for more than 10 days for functional forces to capture, coordinate, verify, and handle.

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Quang Ninh also carries out the control of fishing vessels and the exploited seafood output docking and leaving the port. These are good signals, confirming the positive results of the IUU "yellow card" overcoming work in Quang Ninh.

Up to now, a large number of fishermen, ship owners, and seafood processing enterprises have been fully and properly aware of the importance of removing the IUU "yellow card" for the fisheries sector. Thereby, compliance with the law will gradually be improved.

Talking to the Agriculture and Nature Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan (owner of the QN 90070 ship) shared, "Currently, my ship is fully equipped with VMS equipment. During the fishing process, I regularly check the equipment and ensure the communication is smooth."

Mr. Tuan expressed, "Since being propagated and disseminated about the removal of the 'yellow card,' the fleet told each other to strictly comply with the Government's regulations, only catching in the permitted waters. I hope Quang Ninh province in particular and Vietnam's other coastal provinces and cities soon remove the 'yellow card' to help the fisheries sector have many opportunities for development and expansion. Thereby creating opportunities for fishermen to feel secure in doing business and earning more income to stabilize their lives."

Synchronously implement many solutions

With the determination to protect aquatic resources in order to develop sustainably and promote the removal of the IUU "yellow card," in the coming time, Quang Ninh province accelerates the synchronous implementation of many solutions.

Mr. Phan Thanh Nghi, Deputy Director of the Quang Ninh Department of Agriculture and Environment, said that the province is focusing on implementing many solutions. In particular, continue to strengthen the dissemination and mobilization of ship owners and crew members to understand and strictly enforce the Party's guidelines and the State's policies and laws on the registration and inspection of seafood exploitation. Patrol, control, and strictly handle violations of exploitation.

Providing more information on patrol and control of violations, the Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment said, "In 2024, the Department has established 40 delegations, thereby inspecting and handling nearly 300 violations. Besides, functional forces such as the Border Guard and Police also often supervise, from which the number of violations is significantly reduced."

Along with that, the Department is building a mechanism to encourage fishing vessels operating inefficiently to convert livelihoods. Especially, transform from banned professions and professions destroying aquatic resources to aquaculture and non-agricultural industries.

For offshore fishing fleets with a length of over 15 m, it is necessary to review and require VMS installation; absolutely not to leave the port with ships not installed with or turning on VMS. The fleet of less than 15 m should be strictly managed at the time of leaving and docking at the port.

In the coming time, the Quang Ninh Department of Agriculture and Environment continues to set up working delegations to support, urge, and guide people to complete administrative procedures before participating in fishing activities, ensuring 100% of fishermen strictly abide by the State's regulations.

In parallel with that, upgrade physical facilities, the team at the port, and points to control and declare the number of exploitations and manage ships docking and leaving the port to promote the operational efficiency of the fishing ports, storm sheltering areas, and fishing vessel control points in the area. Besides, research and propose mechanisms and policies for applying technology and flying equipment to supervise and manage fishing vessels.

"Quang Ninh province carefully manages fishing vessels not only at the time when there is the EC's inspection delegation, but the province also identifies fishing vessel management as a natural work of the state management agency. When there is an inspection, we are completely assured because the management of fishing vessels in the province has basically been overcome. Quang Ninh is determined to join hands with the country to remove the IUU 'yellow card'," Mr. Phan Thanh Nghi emphasized.

The removal of the EC's IUU "yellow card" has special significance, not only expanding the opportunity to bring Vietnam's seafood into the EU market but also helping the fisheries sector to develop sustainably and further in the coming time.

According to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 582/QD-TTg, approving the planning of the fishing port system and storm shelters for fishing vessels in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, there will be 11 storm shelters in Quang Ninh. This contributes to ensuring safety for people and fishing vessels during storms, minimizing human and property damage.