Ninh Thuan needs to follow the Fisheries Law: Deputy Minister

The deputy minister made the request at a working session with the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan Province on the implementation of the measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the situation of animal husbandry and disease prevention in this locality.

According to the report of Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee, the province now has about 2,236 registered fishing vessels, of which 909 are from 6 to under 12m long; 540 ships from 12-15m; 766 ships from 15-24m and 21 ships from 24m and above.

Regarding the issuance of fishing licenses, about 782/787 ships with the length of 15m and above have been granted fishing licenses. The fishing licenses of 870 ships from 6-15m long have been updated to the Vnfishbase system while those of the remaining 579 vessels have not been updated to the system.

Currently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ninh Thuan Province has strictly controlled the construction, conversion, lease, purchase and sale of fishing vessels according to the license quota.

The department has also demanded the urgent review and update of the national fishery database Vnfishbase while deleting the registration of fishing vessels according to the provisions of Article 72, Law on Fisheries.

At the same time, fishermen are guided to fully and properly comply with regulations on ensuring technical safety of fishing vessels. Along with that, registration of fishing boat crew members in the seafarer register will be strictly controlled.

Fishing vessel owners are required to buy accident insurance and other compulsory insurance for crew members and people working on fishing vessels according to regulations.

The department also requested the increased patrolling, inspection and strictly handling cases of fishing vessels violating the provisions of the law in the process of operating at sea, especially for fishing vessels violating fishing routes.

By now, the province has over 97 % of fishing ships with a length of 15m or more and 100% of those that are over 24m have been installed with cruise monitoring equipment. The rest have not installed the equipment as they are suffering from loss, damage or unexploitable.

Strict implementation

Also according to the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province, in order to effectively monitor fishing vessels operating at sea through VMS equipment, the Ninh Thuan Fisheries Sub-Department has organized a 24/24 duty, monitoring and handling each violating case in accordance with the process, while notifying the Border Guard force and local authorities.

The department has strictly processed monitoring data for fishing vessels with the largest length of 24m or more that have had their cruise monitoring device inactive or disable during its operation on the sea.

Recently, the provincial authorities have coordinated with the Ninh Thuan Border Guard Command to monitor and check 149 fishing vessels with high risk of violating foreign waters.

At the same time, this list of vessels have been sent to localities for joint inspection and supervision, ensuring close supervision and preventing potential acts of violating foreign waters. As a result, Ninh Thuan has had no illegal fishing vessels in foreign waters since 2020.

According to the Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee, 74 cases of IUU fishing violations have been administratively fined with a total amount of VND 88.8 million. Another 40 cases with 40 individuals have been fined with 49.2 million VND while two fishing vessels were warned against crossing the sea boundary towards Cambodia.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the General Department of Fisheries, said: “We now have a Law on Fisheries that we must abide by. On the European Commission (EC) side, they will first check if we are complying with our Fisheries Law”.

According to him, the effective implementation of the Law on Fisheries will be a premise for sustainable and long-term development.

“We need to improve our management and communication capacity so that fishermen can understand and implement the regulations well. As long as the fishermen have properly understood, they won't make mistakes," he said, adding that the quality of Ninh Thuan's ports has not been satisfactory. Therefore, the localities need to focus on building large-scale and clean constructions to ensure sustainable development factors.

Mr. Dang Kim Cuong, Director of Ninh Thuan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the department would receive the comments and instructions of the Directorate of Fisheries, which will be summarized and sent to the Provincial People's Committee in the near future.

“We propose that ministries and sectors pay attention and prioritize the development of seaport infrastructure, especially Dong Hai Fishing Port. Secondly, I hope the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will support the locality in aquaculture so that the province can develop the marine economy soon," he said.