Maximum penalty of 1 billion VND for illegal fisheries exploitation

According to Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP, serious violations in fisheries exploitation will incur various levels of administrative penalty.

Namely, administrative penalties ranging from 300,000,000 to 500,000,000 Vietnamese dong will be imposed for one of the following violations:

- Using fishing vessels with a length measuring between 15 and 24 meters to engage in fisheries exploitation activities in marine areas without a valid Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit;

- Using fishing vessels with a minimum length of 24 meters to engage in surveying, searching, luring and transporting aquatic species, aquatic products for other fishing vessels without a valid Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit;

- Failure to maintain the transmission of information from the on-board vessel monitoring system to the centralized vessel monitoring system as per regulation; disabling the on-board vessel monitoring system, or failure to install a vessel monitoring system on fishing vessels with a minimum length of 24 meters.

Administrative penalties ranging from 500,000,000 to 700,000,000 Vietnamese dong will be imposed for one of the following violations:

- Using fishing vessels with a length measuring between 15 and 24 meters to engage in fisheries exploitation activities in marine areas without a valid Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit, in case of repeated offenses or multiple administrative violations;

- Using fishing vessels with a minimum length of 24 meters to transport aquatic species, aquatic products for other fishing vessels without a valid Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit; or to assist in surveying, searching, enticing, and transporting aquatic species, aquatic products for other fishing vessels identified as engaging in illegal fisheries exploitation, in case of repeated offenses or multiple administrative violations;

- Failure to maintain the transmission of information from the on-board vessel monitoring system to the centralized vessel monitoring system as per regulation; disabling the on-board vessel monitoring system, or failure to install a vessel monitoring system on fishing vessels with a minimum length of 24 meters, in case of repeated offenses or multiple administrative violations.

- Concealing, forging, or destroying evidence pertaining to violations of the exploitation and protection of fishery resources.

- Failure to accurately record fishing logs in compliance with the requirements of the local fisheries management agency; failure to comply with the requirements of the local fisheries management agency when reporting fisheries exploitation activities within the marine area under the jurisdiction of the local fisheries management agency.

- Overfishing beyond the quota granted by the local fisheries management agency.

Administrative penalties ranging from 800,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 Vietnamese dong will be imposed for one of the following violations:

- Using fishing vessels with a minimum length of 24 meters to engage in fisheries exploitation activities in marine areas without a valid Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit;

- Engaging in fisheries exploitation activities in other national or territorial waters; engaging in fisheries exploitation activities in waters under the jurisdiction of the local fisheries management agency without a Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit, or without approval or with an expired approval document;

- Using foreign-flagged vessels to operate in Vietnamese waters without a Fisheries Exploitation Permit or with an expired Fisheries Exploitation Permit;

- Using unflagged or foreign-flagged vessels from non-member countries to engage in illegal fisheries exploitation activities in waters under the jurisdiction of the local fisheries management agency;

- Using vessels to engage in fisheries exploitation activities without complying with regulations on exploitation, protection of fisheries resources in international waters not under the jurisdiction of the local fisheries management agency;

- Other illegal fisheries exploitation activities in waters under the jurisdiction of the local fisheries management agency;

- Concealing, forging, or destroying evidence pertaining to violations of the exploitation and protection of fishery resources, in case of repeated offenses;

- Overfishing beyond the quota granted by the local fisheries management agency, in case of repeated offenses.

In addition to administrative penalties, violators of fisheries exploitation regulations may also face other penalties such as confiscation of harvested products, confiscation of fishing vessels, suspension of the right to use captain certificates for 6 to 12 months, suspension of the right to use Fisheries Exploitation Permits for 6 to 12 months, depending on the nature of the violation.