Paying dearly for violating IUU fishing: Many fishermen still want to 'take a risk'

Bright and dark "color patches"

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Paying dearly for violating IUU fishing: Both imprisoned and lost ships

Hoai Nhon town is the locality with the most powerful fishing vessel force in Binh Dinh province, with 2,237 units. Of these, there are 2,118 units exploiting offshore, with a total capacity of more than 1.28 million CV. Previously, Hoai Nhon town was a locality with many fishing vessels violating foreign waters, but after policy decisions in the work of combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, in recent years, the fishing vessels of Hoai Nhon fishermen are no longer named in Binh Dinh's list of fishing vessels violating IUU fishing.

According to Mr. Nguyen Chi Cong, Vice Chairman of the Hoai Nhon Town People's Committee, in order to prevent the problem of fishing vessels violating foreign waters, in recent years, the entire political system of this locality has simultaneously participated in aggressively disseminating and mobilizing offshore fishing vessel owners to "say no" to IUU violations. This work is carried out in concert by all levels of party committees, party organizations, the Fatherland Front, and political and social organizations in the area.

The dissemination work against IUU fishing by Hoai Nhon town governments at all levels is not general but very practical. Fishermen understand that violating IUU fishing not only defaces the national image, but fishermen also harm themselves. Or if they fish in foreign waters, their property will be confiscated, and they will be imprisoned.

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Paying dearly for violating IUU fishing: Taking on debt, incurring sadness

In addition, the tragedy of "fishery billionaires," such as Tran Tong in Hoai Huong ward or fisherman Nguyen Ro in Hoai Thanh ward, due to fishing in foreign waters, is clearly visible, affecting the owners of offshore fishing vessels. Furthermore, in recent times, offshore fishing vessels owned by Hoai Nhon fishermen have mostly been modernized to suit fishing conditions. Possessing large assets, Hoai Nhon fishermen do not dare "take a risk once" of fishing in foreign waters and regret it all their lives.

Meanwhile, Phu Cat district is no less competitive in dissemination work, but fishing vessels in this locality are mostly ships with small capacity. Phu Cat currently has 692 fishing vessels with a total capacity of nearly 284,000 CV. Among them, there are 432 ships over 15 m long with cruise monitoring equipment installed; 244 ships from 12 m to under 15 m long and 16 ships under 12 m long are not installed with cruise monitoring equipment.

Additionally, the fishing vessels of Phu Cat fishermen have almost "settled" completely in Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Tien Giang provinces to operate and have not returned to their hometowns for many years. It means that these fishing vessels were outside the control of functional agencies in Binh Dinh, where they are registered to operate. Moreover, most of the fishing vessels of Phu Cat fishermen are old and not worth much, which is also a psychological factor for the ship owners to come up with the idea of "taking a risk once" and "going big or going home."

Therefore, since the beginning of 2024, in Phu Cat district, up to 8 fishing vessels practicing squid fishing in foreign waters have been arrested, of which Cat Minh commune has 4 units, Cat Tien town has 2 units, Cat Hai commune has 1 unit, and Cat Hanh commune has 1 unit.

"Owners of the violating fishing vessels are all criticized in front of the people by Phu Cat district governments at all levels. At the same time, local governments regularly disseminate consequences of fishing in violation of foreign waters for the violators themselves and the country's fisheries industry; mobilize fishermen to seriously comply with the State's regulations in exploiting and catching seafood to soon remove the IUU 'yellow card'," shared Mr. Pham Dung Luan, Vice Chairman of the Phu Cat District People's Committee.

Handle violations without concession

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Paying dearly for violating IUU fishing: Taking a risk once, regretting all the life

To thoroughly prevent the problem of fishing vessels violating IUU fishing in the area, in addition to promoting dissemination work to reach each fisherman's household, Binh Dinh also strongly handles ship owners who violated foreign waters and were arrested by law enforcement forces. Although the violating fishermen complained about hardship, Binh Dinh's functional sector still handled violations thoroughly without concession.

For example, in just one day on June 19, 2024, according to Mr. Nguyen Tuan Thanh, Standing Vice Chairman of the Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee, he signed five decisions to sanction five ship owners that violated Malaysian waters and were arrested by this country's law enforcement forces.

The above-mentioned owners were each fined VND 900 million for exploiting seafood in foreign waters without a license. In addition, the owners of violating fishing vessels must also pay all costs to bring fishermen arrested by Malaysian authorities back home.

Or like the case of Ms. Truong Thi Sang, owner of the fishing vessel BD 93277 TS in Cat Minh commune (Phu Cat district, Binh Dinh), who was arrested by Indonesian law enforcement forces while fishing in this country's waters on April 8., 2021. All six fishermen on ship BD 93277 TS were detained at Pontianak Fisheries Resources Surveillance Station (Indonesia). During the detention period, fisherman Nguyen Dao, a crew member on ship BD 93277 TS, died at 8:00 p.m. on December 31, 2021. The corpse of fisherman Nguyen Dao was cremated and preserved in Indonesia.

On August 1, 2022, Binh Dinh Department of Foreign Affairs received Official Dispatch No. 2894/LS-QBHCD of the Protection Fund for Vietnamese Citizens and Legal Entities Abroad (Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on payment of cremation costs for fisherman Nguyen Dao, who died at Pontianak Fisheries Resources Surveillance Station (Indonesia).

According to Point d, Article 6 of Official Dispatch No. 732/CD-TTg of the Prime Minister on preventing, minimizing, and aiming at ending Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen illegally fishing in foreign waters, forcing the owner of the violating fishing vessel to pay the cost to bring the violating fishermen back home. If the ship owner does not pay, the local government with the violating fishing vessel will be responsible for paying.

"After I was arrested, I felt regretful because I was both empty-handed after an illegal fishing trip and imprisoned in a foreign country. My family's asset, a fishing vessel with a capital of up to 70 taels of gold, was confiscated by Indonesia, including my fishing tools. I was imprisoned, so my wife and children at home had to borrow VND 80 million to 'ransom' me back. After that, my family also had to pay for the cremation and transport costs of the remains of the crew member who died while in detention. It is truly 'it never rains, but it pours'," said fisherman Truong Van Cuong, captain of the fishing vessel BD 93277 TS.