'Having breakfast with fishermen' to combat IUU fishing

Actively have "morning coffee" with fishermen

Recently, many initiatives and good practices in IUU dissemination in wards, communes, and towns of Long Dien district (Ba Ria-Vung Tau) have been replicated, such as the model of "morning coffee with fishermen" or "having breakfast, celebrating Tet with fishermen" combined with advocating and advising on the application of digital transformation in fishing activities at sea and distributing leaflets to disseminate on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Captain Bui Dinh Tam, Phuoc Tinh Commune Border Guard Station, shared: "With increasingly high awareness of compliance with IUU regulations, fishermen and fishing vessel owners in communes, districts, and Vung Tau city have increasingly better complied with IUU regulations. At the same time, invest in modern technology and apply digital transformation to fishing management activities to remove the EC's 'yellow card'.

Mr. Vo Hoa, captain of the fishing vessel BV 7273 TS (Ward 2, Vung Tau city), said that, fully aware of the importance of removing the EC's "yellow card", his ship always tries to comply with anti-IUU regulations. Specifically, absolutely do not cross fishing boundaries into foreign waters, always turn on the cruise monitoring equipment 24/7, and record a complete and accurate fishing log. When the weather is bad and the monitoring equipment’s is lost, I always notify the Fisheries Sub-Department to contact the network operator to coordinate timely repairs."

As for Mr. Ngo Tam, captain of the fishing vessel BV 91666-TS (Incomap port, Vung Tau city), when the ship just docked at the port, he picked up his phone and pressed the declaration, transferring printed data to submit to the fishing port staff very quickly.

According to him, recording an electronic log will solve all the problems of bad handwriting, recording wrong coordinates, and missing species. It's difficult at first, but after knowing how to use it, it is convenient.

With locators and satellite phones to communicate with the mainland, and now with electronic logs, it is increasingly easier for fishermen to comply with IUU regulations. Thanks to that, the situation of implementing IUU regulations in the province has gradually improved and made clear progress.

Set up inter-sectoral checkpoints to inspect and handle violations

To prevent illegal fishing and find ways to remove the yellow card for Vietnamese seafood, the BR-VT Provincial People's Committee has perfected the Steering Committee Against Illegal Fishing in districts and Vung Tau city. At the same time, establish inter-sectoral checkpoints to combat illegal fishing at three sea gates, including Sao Mai, Binh Chau, and Loc An. This aims to check fishing vessels entering and exiting the port, documents related to crew members, fishing vessels, equipment installed on ships, the implementation of regulations on exploiting and protecting aquatic resources, etc.

Ms. Pham Thi Na, Deputy Director of the BR-VT Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that BR-VT province also requires attaching responsibility to the authorities of coastal communes, wards, and towns in disseminating, coordinating management, and calling on fishermen to comply with legal regulations on the prevention and combat of illegal seafood exploitation. At the same time, the province issued regulations to coordinate with law enforcement forces at sea, including the 2^nd Regional Command, Fisheries Surveillance, and 3^rd and 4^th Regional Coast Guards. This aims to coordinate inspections between branches and notify authorities to coordinate handling according to regulations.

A series of decisions and directions were deployed to combat IUU fishing in localities. In particular, build 126 solidarity groups for fishing at sea; organize leaders of wards, communes, and neighborhood leaders to go to every alley, knock on every door, go down to every fishing vessel, review before the residential group, and name cases of violations in local news reports, etc. From there, gradually shorten the gap between fishermen and raise fishermen's awareness of law observance.

Exchanging with the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper, Ms. Tran Thi Thu Huong, Head of the Economics Department of the City People's Committee, said: "Vung Tau city is one of the localities with the largest fishing capacity in the province, accounting for more than 40% of the total number and 37% of the total capacity of fishing vessels. As of now, 100% of the city's fishermen have signed a commitment not to violate foreign waters. The number of fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more that have installed cruise monitoring equipment according to regulations reaches 807/820 vessels (98.41%); the remaining 13 ships that have not yet been installed are lying ashore and inactive."

According to Ms. Huong, the Vung Tau City People's Committee has also directed localities to count the number, take photos, arrange supervisory staff, and coordinate with the Border Guard to not let these ships depart if they do not meet all requirements for fishing at sea according to legal regulations.

To carry out IUU work well, localities in BR-VT province coordinate closely with the Fisheries Sub-department and relevant units in grasping fishing vessel data, especially fishing vessels being at risk of violating foreign waters, fishing vessels crossing maritime boundaries, fishing vessels turning off cruise monitoring equipment against regulations, etc., to strengthen inspection, determine the cause, take preventive measures, and strictly handle cases of violation.