Prosecution of 2 IUU violation cases of fishing vessels

On May 28, the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province issued a conclusion statement by Mr. Nguyen Cong Vinh, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, regarding the handling of violations in the province's IUU fishing prevention work.

During the past time, the IUU violation prevention work has been seriously and resolutely implemented by the Provincial Party Committee, the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, and relevant departments, forces, and localities in the province. Thanks to this, IUU-related incidents have been addressed with a sense of urgency, determination, comprehensiveness, and caution, without negligence, and ensuring no violations are overlooked.

In recent times, the functional forces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province have detected and assigned the Provincial Police to investigate and handle 6 cases, which have been processed up to now. Specifically, on March 27, the provincial security investigation agency issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute 1 suspect for the offence of "Forgery of seals, documents of agencies, organizations" in Phuoc Hung commune, Long Dien district.

On May 27, the Ba Ria - Vung Tau provincial police also initiated a criminal case for the offence of "Obstruction or disruption of the operation of computer networks, telecommunications networks, electronic devices" regarding the incident involving 19 fishing vessels in Phuoc Tinh commune, Long Dien district, removing the voyage monitoring equipment (VMS) installed on fishing vessel BTh-89576-TS.

Furthermore, the security investigation agency, in coordination with the provincial police, processed 2 out of 6 cases with signs of criminal law violations for handling according to regulations. These cases involve verifying the origin of seafood materials at the Xinghiep shipyard's fishing port and the incident of 4 fishing vessels, BV-97057-TS, BV-97978-TS, BV-97607-TS, and BV-95705-TS, removing and retaining voyage monitoring equipment for fishing activities not in compliance with regulations.

Moreover, two fishing vessels, BV-90150-TS and BV-90628-TS, violated fishing regulations, and three fishing vessels, BV-92380-TS, BV-92381-TS, and BV-94640-TS, were found to have arbitrarily removed voyage monitoring equipment. The provincial police continue to consolidate documentation and evidence for strict legal proceedings according to current laws.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau province is focusing all resources on IUU fishing prevention work to remove the "yellow card" before the 5th inspection delegation from the European Commission (EC) visits Vietnam.

So far, the province has addressed and handled existing limitations and restrictions identified by the EC inspection in the 4th inspection round. This includes penalizing fishing vessel owners without fishing licenses and those who continue operating despite losing voyage monitoring connections. "Three-no" vessels have also been registered and temporarily licensed to operate legally. Since 2018, the province has implemented IUU fishing prevention measures. From 2022 until now, no fishing vessels from the province have violated foreign waters.

From June until the EC's inspection delegation comes to Vietnam for the fifth time, MARD will organize an anti-IUU peak. Currently, the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance has prepared Report No. 385 to send to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating IUU Fishing, asking for opinions on organizing working delegations to all 28 coastal provinces and cities.

Previously, the Deputy Prime Minister has repeatedly given drastic directions on anti-IUU fishing. He emphasized the viewpoint that promotes the responsibility of leaders for combating IUU fishing.

MARD's Party Civil Affairs Committee is about to issue a resolution on the action program and plan to implement Directive No. 32-CT/TW dated April 10, 2024, of the Secretariat, as well as Resolution No. 52/NQ-CP dated April 22, 2024, of the Government.

According to information from the drafting team, the resolution will include a detailed plan for urgent tasks and solutions in the upcoming anti-IUU peak. Specifically, there are seven plans: Providing information, disseminating, training, and raising awareness; Implementing legal regulations related to combating IUU fishing; Managing and controlling fishing vessel activities; Confirming, certifying, and tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products; Law enforcement; International cooperation and inspection, examination, and supervision of implementation.