Raising fishermen's awareness on fighting against IUU fishing

Investment into infrastructure has not met the demand

A delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien had a working session with Quang Nam province on July 6. The session focused on issues related to the implementation of the European Commission's recommendation against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; aquaculture infrastructure; production and management of aquatic products.

According to Quang Nam Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of June 30, 2022, there are a total of 2753 registered fishing vessels in the province, distributed as follows: 683 in the offshore area, 732 in the internal waters area and 1338 in the coastal area. The fisheries sector has granted certficates of technnical safety to a total of 997 fishing vessels.

The annual fishing output for the entire province ranges from 95,000 to 100,000 tons, nearly 65% of which comes from offshore fishing. The fishing sector has created employment opportunities for at least 15,000 workers, 12,000 of whom exploit directly at sea (including 7,000 workers in the offshore area,  3,100 workers in the internal waters area, 1,900 workers in the coastal area) along with approximately 3,000 workers on shore engaged in service and trading activities.

Quang Nam province contains 2 fishing ports of class II grade, eligible for certification of origin for caught fishery products, namely Tam Quang port and An Hoa port (Nui Thanh district). The two fishing ports can only meet the basic needs of fishing vessels docked in Nui Thanh and Tam Ky districts.

For fishing vessels in Duy Xuyen, Dien Ban, Thang Binh and Hoi An districts, there are no suitable fishing ports for fishing vessels' docking. This has caused great difficulties for ship owners and captains in the submission of fishing logs, certification of origin for caught fishery products. As a result, this problem has significantly affected the implementation of the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

In addition, Quang Nam has 4 concentrated storm shelters (out of 7 total planned anchorages) in operation for fishing vessels in the province, including: An Hoa storm shelter; Hong Trieu storm shelter, Cua Dai storm shelter and Cu Lao Cham storm shelter.

The storm shelter areas have only received early investment, meeting approximately 70% of the demand for storm shelters for fishing vessels in the province; fisheries auxiliary and logistics infrastructure is severely lacking; some infrastructure has been in operation for extended period of time without regular maintenance, so they have expired due to alluvial deposition; most notably, the channels in and out of the anchorage areas are dry, making it difficult for fishing vessels to travel, buoy systems, sign posts, etc. have been badly damaged and deterioriated.

Achievements alongside challenges

Regarding the fight against IUU fishing in the province, Mr. Ngo Tan, Deputy Director of Quang Nam Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, reported that since 2018, the Department has coordinated with relevant agencies including  the Quang Nam Border Guard Command, the Quang Nam Provincial Police to help the Provincial People's Committee issue several documents directing relevant governmental bodies, departments and units to coordinate in fighting against IUU fishing in compliance with the Central directives.

In the past 5 years, the province has organized over 42 sessions to raise awareness for more than 2,700 participants including representatives from relevant departments, sectors, localities, businesses, organizations as well as individuals. The province has also coordinated to develop reports, articles, and online dialogue programs on the implementation of the 2017 Law on Fisheries, policies to support fishermen in developing fisheries, solutions to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Additionally, after the inspection by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2020 and following the direction under Official Dispatch No. 1367 dated February 24, 2022 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on implementing solutions to combat IUU fishing. Quang Nam Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated and directed relevant agencies to carry out the task of combating IUU fishing in the province.

“After overcoming shortcomings and limitations, Quang Nam province has achieved great results. Namely, the rate of fishing vessels installing cruise monitoring equipment in the province has reached 96.6%. The province has promoted and conducted training for organizations and individuals engaged in the purchasing and exploiting of fishery products as wel as regulations and processes on certification of raw materials for exploitation. It has also strengthened the supervision and recording of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; Monitor the output of aquatic products unloading through the ports; collect and submit fishing logs”, said Mr. Tan.

According to Mr. Tan, the implementation of IUU fishing prevention and control in the province still faces certain shortcomings and limitations. There is a lack of dissemination for the Law on Fisheries, so fishermen do not fully understand the regulations on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, especially those from outside the province.

On the other hand, some fishing vessels have not installed cruise monitoring equipment as per regulations; or fishing vessels disconnect their cruise monitoring equipment; The operation and status display of cruise monitoring equipment are unclear when a signal problem occurs, making it difficult for the captain to detect and rectify the problem. The delimitation of permitted boundaries for fishing in the sea has not been unified among countries in the region.

According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, the fishing infrastructure in Quang Nam province has received synchronous investment, especially Tam Quang fishing port (Nui Thanh), fishing vessel anchorage area combined with fishing port in Hong Trieu (Duy Nghia commune, Duy Xuyen). However, the number of fishing vessels in Quang Nam is too large, the capacity of fishing is too high; so it is necessary to have mechanisms and policies to shift to marine farming.

Regarding fishing port management and fishery control, Quang Nam is lacking and weak in terms of human and material resources, requiring more investment to meet the requirements of the task. The border guard forces needs to strictly handle violations cases among fishermen, refuse departure to sea if the owner of the fishing vessel fail to present the documents and procedures as prescribed.

"There are too many fishing vessels in the province's coastal areas, the province's fishery control force needs to invest in means of patrolling and controlling the sea, preventing acts of destructive fishing and wrongful fishing grounds according to regulations. The fisheries sector needs to work closely with coastal provinces to effectively propagate anti-IUU mechanisms, bring about changes in fishermen, and contribute to the removal of the EC's "yellow card" regarding fisheries, emphasized Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

Quang Nam province proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to advise the Government on a program to support fishermen during the increasing price of petrol, causing many fishing vessels to be stranded ashore; train and improve the patrolling, inspection and control of fishing vessels for officers under the Sub-Department of Fisheries and the Office of Fisheries Control in the province; regularly provide information on fishing grounds forecast in the high seas to help the province guide fishermen on exploiting fishery products effectively. Quang Nam province currently does not have a means of patrolling the sea, so it is suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development consider and support the Quang Nam fisheries control force with a composite hull vessel to ensure effective enforcement of marine and fishery laws.