Region V Fisheries Surveillance patrols the Southwest region

Resolutely handle violating fishing vessels

Following the plan, the Region V Fisheries Surveillance Working Group (Fisheries Surveillance Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) conducted patrols and supervision of exploitation and fishing activities in the Southwestern waters from September 11 - 30.

The objective of the business trip is to detect, prevent and promptly handle violations of illegal seafood exploitation and, at the same time, propagate, support, encourage, and ensure peace for fishermen to exploit fisheries following the law in Vietnam's waters.

According to the Region V Fisheries Surveillance Department, the patrolling sea area east of Tho Chu island and west of Chuoi island mainly concentrates on fishing vessels practising trawling (double towing, single towing) of Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ben Tre provinces and vessels in the fishing industry. This is an area where disputes over fishing grounds between occupations often occur, and the security and order situation is potentially complicated. In recent years, there have been fishing vessels from Tien Giang province practising double trawling. Some of these vessels may be on the list of fishing vessels that have lost GSHT connection and are at high risk of IUU violations according to the updated notice.

In the Vietnam - Cambodia Historic Waters area, the density of fishing vessels operating is quite large and diverse in types of seafood exploitation. The situation of Vietnamese fishing vessels being captured by foreign ships, ransoms collected, and fishing products confiscated still occurs frequently, creating anxiety for fishermen operating in this sea area.

In the waters bordering Malaysia, Thailand concentrates mainly on offshore fishing vessels with the main occupation being double trawls, single trawls, gill nets and seine nets. In this sea area, there are still a few fishing boats taking advantage of the night, evading the authorities to go to foreign waters to fish illegally, violating IUU fishing.

The scope of patrolling, inspecting, controlling and handling violations of law in the fisheries sector this time will be conducted on the Southwestern Sea, the sea bordering Malaysia, Thailand and the Vietnam-Cambodia Historic Water Area.

The working group consists of 15 members led by Mr Tran Nam Chung (Fisheries Inspector - Legal Department, Inspectorate of the Fisheries Surveillance Department) as Head of the patrol group.

Crucial time in combating IUU fishing

According to the Region V Fisheries Control Department, from August to October 2023, coastal provinces will open a peak campaign against IUU fishing to overcome the yellow card of the European Commission (EC). In particular, the two provinces of Kien Giang and Ca Mau are determined to join forces to end the situation of illegal fishing vessels before the EC Inspection Team operates in October this year.

The Border Guard and Fisheries Inspectorate of Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces regularly patrol, inspect and control the waters assigned to them. The Coast Guard, Navy, and Fisheries Surveillance Detachment No. 2 also strengthened maritime surveillance and duty forces in areas bordering Indonesia and Malaysia to prevent Vietnamese fishing vessels from violating foreign waters, and at the same time limit law enforcement vessels from other countries from arresting and handling Vietnamese fishing vessels.

The competent forces of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand continue to strengthen patrols, arrest, and handle Vietnamese fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters, especially Vietnamese fishing boats and fishermen who have acted against the authorities. On the historic waters of Vietnam - Cambodia, Cambodian law enforcement forces continue to patrol, chase away, arrest, fine or confiscate the property of Vietnamese fishermen.

Reporting to the Director of Region V Fisheries Surveillance Branch - Mr Nguyen Phu Quoc, Mr Tran Nam Chung (Head of the patrol) said that the mission of the business trip will propagate, mobilize and guide fishermen to properly comply with the provisions of the law on fisheries and avoid illegally exploit seafood in foreign waters; raise community awareness about protecting and regenerating aquatic resources; contribute to responsible fisheries development; ensure order and security at sea, contributing to maintaining national sovereignty at sea; patrol, detect and prevent fishing vessels showing signs of violation. This also includes strictly handling violations of regulations in fisheries activities, and coordinating with Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces to list, monitor and closely inspect fishing vessels that have lost their voyage monitoring signals for more than 10 days as well as vessels that are at high risk of violating foreign waters in waters bordering Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Historic Water Area between Vietnam and Cambodia; participate in search and rescue when situations occur and perform other tasks assigned by superiors.

Mr Nguyen Phu Quoc, Director of the Region V Fisheries Surveillance Branch, requested the working group to patrol, inspect and control in accordance with the provisions of the Circular No. 18/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 22, 2022, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on regulating the process of patrol, inspection and control at sea of the Fisheries Surveillance force; strict handle of violations of fisheries laws; Coordinate and support other forces according to coordination regulations and provisions of law. In addition, before, during and after performing patrol, inspection and control tasks, security conditions must be ensured according to regulations, ensuring safety for people and vehicles during the performance of tasks, and ready to perform other tasks when directed by superiors.

During the time the working group was carrying out its tasks, the operating sea area will be during the rainy season and the southwest monsoon will be strongly active, thunderstorms and strong winds accompanied by tornadoes will often appear. It is forecast that the operating sea area may be affected by a few storms and tropical depressions from the East Sea region, which may directly affect the operations of ships in the Southwestern sea.