Origin certification is the hardest part of IUU 'yellow card' removal

The "yellow card" warning indicators removed by Quang Ninh include control of fishing vessels in and out of the port; equipment installment to monitor fishing vessel's journey; ship management and issuance of fishing licenses; food safety for fishing vessels; sanction administrative violations for illegal fishing. The other two warnings that have not been executed are certification of seafood origin and certification of fishing materials.

Up to this point the province still has over 7,300 fishing vessels, a decrease of more than 1,700 fishing vessels compared to the previous time when the "yellow card" was applied, of which over 3,850 fishing vessels have registered in the National Fishing Vessel Database software; 210 offshore fishing vessels have installed and synchronized cruise monitoring equipment, registered and acquired fishing licenses and food safety certificates; more than 1,000 fishing vessels have signed food safety commitments and issued fishing licenses.

More than 120 fishing vessels in particular (out of the total of over 960 vessels) exploiting the coastal areas continue to be registered by localities according to regulations. The goal is that by the end of this year 100% of ships will have fishing licenses.

Another thing to add is that in recent times Quang Ninh province has had no fishing vessels violating foreign waters.

The inter-sectoral station controlling fishing vessels entering and leaving Cai Rong port is located at the regional-level storm shelter anchorage area combined with fishing port in Cai Rong town, Van Don district. The station is established in 2021, currently operating 24/24h to inspect and control fishing vessels, issue samples, recover fishing logs, and monitor seafood output through the port.

Over the past year the station has inspected more than 2,600 ships entering and leaving the port and unloaded more than 3,500 tons of aquatic products through the port, collected 1,200 fishing logs and seafood purchasing logs. Especially from the beginning of 2022 up to now, the station has inspected more than 900 turns of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port; unloaded nearly 1,000 tons of aquatic products through the port.

Together with functional units of the province, the station has detected and sanctioned over 400 cases of violations of regulations related to fishing activities. The total administrative fines exceeded VND 2 billion.

Mr. Do Dinh Minh, Director of Quang Ninh Fisheries Sub-Department, said that the regional-level storm shelter anchorage area combined with fishing port in Cai Rong town was still in the investment process, and not yet qualified to be announced as a fishing port. As a result, Quang Ninh province still needed more time to remove the final warning criteria.

“To overcome this situation, the sub-department has set up 10 points to inspect and monitor fishing vessels along the path from Mong Cai to Quang Yen town so that fishermen can come for declaration and let the local authorities come for inspection, showing their fair share of help to the central government in the process of removing the IUU yellow card," said Mr. Minh.

According to Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Minh Son, Quang Ninh is a province with great potential to develop the aquaculture industry with a total farming area of 32,092 ha. The fishery industry is considered the key economic sector of Quang Ninh in the coming period, so removing the IUU "yellow card" is a matter of top priority.

However, a major concern is that the fishing port infrastructure in this aquaculture work has not been completed according to regulations. This makes Quang Ninh not eligible to be announced as a fishing port. This also means that the province cannot establish a management organization or a set of operational rules as well as no environmental impact assessment of the fishing port or implementation of procedures for handing over the sea area.

Without a qualified fishing port, Quang Ninh will not be possible to carry out the activities of certifying the origin of fishery products and certifying fishing materials. Meanwhile these are all solid criteria and warnings of the EC, which must be met in order to have the IUU "yellow card" removed in the future.