Quang Ngai: Changes seen in the effort to get the IUU ‘yellow card’ removed

On February 16, a delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien worked with the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province to assess the action to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the province.

Quang Ngai has 4,573 fishing vessels up to the present date, including 3,261 deep sea fishing vessels, with a total capacity of nearly 1,800,000 CV. Around 38,000 local workers were involved in fisheries in Quang Ngai, catching nearly 265,000 tons of fish in 2021.

Quang Ngai has seven fishing ports and five harbors used as storm shelters. In recent years the province has built five fishing ports and storm shelters including Sa Huynh, Tinh Ky, Tinh Hoa, Ly Son and My A.

In addition to these, many other projects to upgrade, repair, and expand ports and harbors have been underway in the province. Five fishing infrastructure projects, in Tinh Ky, Tinh Hoa, Ly Son, My A and Sa Huynh, are currently in operation and have been recognized by the province's People's Committee and the MARD as being eligible to certify the origin of seafood, contribute to the safety of fishermen and boats, facilitate fishing activities and effectively combat IUU fishing.

Despite this, Quang Ngai’s fishing ports, harbors and storm shelters have not yet met local demand as they can provide space for only 1,750 fishing vessels, equal to one-third of the province's total number. In addition to this, the annual budget for maintenance and repair of the ports was less than the actual demand while sedimentation has made it hard for vessels and boats to come in and out.

According to Mr. Ho Trong Phuong, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Ngai province, in 2019 the province's People's Committee established a Steering Committee to combat IUU fishing. The department also set up four representative offices to monitor fishing activities at ports.

"Quang Ngai now has 2,806 out of 3,261 offshore fishing vessels installed with a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), reaching a rate of 86.04%. The remaining 148 fishing boats without VMS are mostly small-capacity ones, fishing close to the coast. They often go past intertidal flats without strict management from the local government," said Mr. Phuong.

Also according to Mr. Phuong, over the past year the fact remained that many fishing vessels in the province were out of the coverage area of the monitor system. The province's agencies handled 116 cases and fined 22 cases with a total amount of VND 550 million.

The director of Quang Ngai's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development admitted that there remained some problems with combating IUU fishing. Although measures have been adopted to prevent fishing vessels from violating other countries' waters, there has been no marked improvement in the situation.

Furthermore the province's percentage of fishing boats with registrations, licenses and VMS, as well as the detection and handling of violating vessels, is still low. Only a small proportion of the caught fish was monitored at the ports (25,100 tons out of 265,000 tons in 2021).

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, four years since Vietnam was issued a yellow card the country has actively take measures to remove the card, focusing on four actions: completing a legal system, managing the fishing fleets, tracing the origin of caught fish and enforcing law. The first of these has mostly been completed.

"Over the past year Quang Ngai has made great progress. However to meet EC requirements the province needs to take the remaining three issues seriously. In particular, the percentage of installation of VMS in Quang Ngai is only 86% whereas the national average rate is over 90%. This issue must be resolved right away because fishing vessels are the centre of combating IUU fishing," said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien.