Increasing monitoring of small-scale coastal fishing vessels

Prevent infractions in inshore waters

According to the Binh Dinh Subdepartment of Fisheries, it has coordinated with the Vietnam Marine Police, the Vietnam Border Guard, and local governments to organize 44 patrols, as well as control over Thi Nai lagoon, De Gi lagoon, coastal areas of Phu Cat and Phu My districts, Hoai Nhon town, and Quy Nhon city.

The cross-working group conducted 552 inspections of active fishing vessels and handled 52 violations. The relevant agencies issued fines totaling VND 474.3 million for 49 administrative offenses. In addition, three instances of fishing vessels employing electric stimulation tools are being handled by the competent authorities.

In particular, extra sanctions were implemented in 6 situations, including 5 cases in which the captain's certificate was revoked for a certain period of time and 1 instance in which a certificate of eligibility for food safety that had been erased or amended was confiscated. Currently, the functional department is temporarily seizing the property of three wooden fishing vessels and confiscating three sets of fishing nets, three 12-volt batteries, three makeshift electric shockers, three diamo, three 10-meter-long power cables, and four wooden frames...

The violations were unlawful electric shocker; lack of captain's license, chief engineer of the fishing vessel as required; lack of safety equipment for fishing vessels; the crew member is not listed in the fishing vessel crew register book; failure to maintain the vessel monitoring system during operation onshore for fishing vessels with the largest length of 15 meters to less than 24 meters; and crew members, people working on board ships who do not have a valid driver's license. Mr. Tran Kim Duong, Deputy Director of Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department, said that the IUU team at Quy Nhon Fishing Port handled five cases, the IUU team at the Fishing Port handled three cases, and the IUU team at Tam Quan Fishing Port handled five cases.

The perspective of fishermen has changed

During the implementation of The Fisheries Law of 2017 and related issues concerning the prevention of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, the agriculture sector of Binh Dinh has intensified the management of the fishing activities of small fishing boats; promoting and assisting ship owners in complying with regulations, thereby contributing to the protection of aquatic resources.

According to the Binh Dinh Sub-Department of Fisheries, more than 1,200 small fishing boats with hull lengths between 6 and 15 meters operate in this province's coastline and coastal areas. In 2022, the Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department will establish a plan to collaborate with coastal municipalities to evaluate and direct the issuing of fishing licenses, in accordance with the directives of the agriculture sector.

Through review, functional has worked with 453 ship owners, granting fishing licenses to 283 ship owners. At the same time, Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department has detected that as many as 170 fishing vessels are no longer operating in Binh Dinh, deleted the name of this group of ships in the national register of fishing vessels and removed them from the national fishery database system. It is expected that by October 30, 2022, Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department will complete the second review of 963 fishing vessel owners to continue guiding related procedures.

According to Mr. Nguyen Cong Binh, Deputy Director of Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department, the review, statistics, and implementation of licensing for small fishing vessels are in accordance with management decentralization in order to bring fishing activities into a well-ordered state, exploiting the legal areas, and suitable to the conditions and particularities of the management and restoration of aquatic resources.

"In Binh Dinh, the issuing of fishing licenses for small fishing vessels in the area was reinforced immediately following the introduction of the Fisheries Law of 2017 and issues linked to preventing fishing vessels from infringing on foreign seas. To date, the Binh Dinh Fisheries Sub-Department has established working groups to conduct field trips to localities, coordinate with local authorities to promote and assist fishermen in obtaining fishing licenses, and exploit the right route, and legal waters in accordance with regulations "said Mr. Nguyen Cong Binh.

"At present, more than 90 percent of all inspected fishing vessels completely adhere to state laws. In particular, just 52 ships out of 552 that were examined were in violation of the Law on Fisheries, indicating that fishermen's understanding of the importance of complying with the law has greatly increased "Mr. Binh Dinh appraised the Fisheries Department, he added.