Open a peak period to review unregistered, uninspected, and unlicensed fishing vessels

On July 18, a working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, worked with the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee to inspect the situation of combating IUU fishing and the progress of the project on technical infrastructure investment in high-tech sea shrimp farming areas in Ba Tri district.

Reviewing "3 Nos" fishing vessels

Before the working session, the delegation inspected activities at fishing ports and the Fisheries Control Team of Ba Tri and Binh Dai districts.

Through the inspection, members of the working delegation noted the areas that have been done and, at the same time, frankly pointed out the limitations and shortcomings and guided the professional force to promptly overcome them, preparing to welcome the EC's inspection delegation into Vietnam in the coming time.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Director of the Fisheries Surveillance Department, pointed out that the group of fishing vessels at high risk is the group that crosses the border, is unregistered, and loses connection.

The Director of the Fisheries Surveillance Department proposed that Ben Tre province open a peak period to review the number of unregistered, uninspected, and unlicensed fishing vessels ("3 Nos" fishing vessels). He also proposed that the border guard force strictly control fishing vessels entering and exiting ports.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung also recommended strengthening the handling of administrative violations. The fishing port management board reviews records and logs to ensure the highest honesty and accuracy.

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien provided information that the legal documents are complete (Law on Fisheries 2017, 2 decrees, 8 circulars, etc.). In terms of direction, there have been many decrees, directives, conclusions, official telegrams, and documents from the Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Government, and the Supreme People's Court.

“During the law-making process, there was consultation with Europe. They also affirmed that this legal normative system has transformed our country's fisheries from a small-scale fishery to a fishery with extensive responsibility in the international arena, eligible to remove the yellow card," Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said.

Once again, the leader of MARD emphasized that Ben Tre needs to review to accurately grasp the province's number of fishing vessels in operation, especially those with a length of 15 m or more (forced to be installed with cruise monitoring equipment, VMS). In addition, it is necessary to carefully learn about cases of fishing vessels that have not been inspected, registered, installed with VMS, or lost connection, because this is a high-risk group.

Removing difficulties for "3 Nos" fishing vessels

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Buoi, Deputy Director of the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province currently has 3,026 fishing vessels. Of which, 2,034 ships are 15 m long or longer; 2,006 ships have been installed with VMS; the rest have stopped operating or are missing. 2084/2,373 ships have been inspected. 2,432/3,026 ships have been licensed to operate.

Notably, the number of ships in the "3 Nos" category is 1,117, and 32 ships have been registered, but the ship owners converted without written approval. The functional agencies inspected the ships and guided the ship owners to register according to regulations. As a result, 543/1,149 ships were inspected and guided to register.

In general, the work of registering fishing vessels faces many difficulties due to strict inspection requirements. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has organized dialogue and dissemination to mobilize fishermen to coordinate with functional agencies. As of now, basically, these difficulties have been resolved. The Standing Committee of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee has been directed to focus on removing difficulties for "3 Nos" fishing vessels so that fishermen can continue to go out to sea.

To manage these fishing vessels more effectively, the Border Guard and fishing ports need to strictly control fishing vessels. At the same time, it is requested that the control forces in the area and the Command of Coast Guard Regions 3 and 4 support and strengthen inspection and handle violations if they are detected.

Since 2022, the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee has assigned officials and party members to meet directly to disseminate, guide, and support ship owners to promptly monitor and control activities through cruise monitoring equipment. To date, 36 communes have assigned 237 officials and party members to be directly responsible for 356 ship owners, with 506 ships at high risk of violating IUU regulations.

Through the implementation of registering "3 Nos" fishing vessels, Ben Tre province currently has 228 vessels with a length of 12 m or more installed with hydrated automotive engines as the main engines on board, violating the content of Directive No. 49/CT-BNN-TCTS dated January 6, 2021, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Therefore, these ships are not eligible for registration and inspection.

Mr. Nguyen Van Buoi also said that the province proposed MARD to solve the above-mentioned problem, with a proposal to allow these ships to be inspected for a period of 3 years but must satisfy the accompanying conditions. Specifically, the main engine installed on board is inspected, clearly showing all technical parameters according to regulations and environmental standards. After a period of 3 years, the ship owner must convert the automotive engine to a marine engine. In the case of replacing the main engine before the deadline, it must be converted to a marine engine.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Tam, Chairman of the Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee, said that in previous years, Ben Tre's fishing vessels had committed many violations, but now the work of preventing and combating IUU fishing has changed more positively. Specifically, since the beginning of 2024, Ben Tre has not had any ships arrested due to violating foreign waters.

Through comments from the working delegation, the Chairman of the Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee said that these are valuable opinions for the province to promptly overcome limitations and shortcomings. Thereby, join hands with the whole country's determination to remove the "yellow card" of the European Commission (EC).