Specifying inadequacies in the fight against IUU fishing in Thua Thien - Hue

On September 18, MARD's working delegation led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating IUU Fishing, had a working session with the Standing Committee of Thua Thien - Hue Provincial Party Committee.

Reporting to the working delegation, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, Director of the Thua Thien - Hue Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that as of now, in the province, there are 437/437 fishing vessels with a maximum length of over 15 meters installed with cruise monitoring equipment (VMS). However, the system only displays cruise monitoring equipment of 434/437 fishing vessels because there are 3 ships that have been installed with VMS but are lying ashore or damaged, waiting to be sold.

Through the VMS system, fisheries management agencies in the province regularly monitor, call for, and warn of the risk of fishing vessels violating foreign waters.

Most of the province's fishing vessels use Vinaphone telecom service. Or due to technical problems with the power connection, a few ship owners have used the VX-1700 communication machine with integrated GPS satellite positioning to contact the shore station according to regulations.

Even so, there were still 50 times with 18 fishing vessels crossing the allowed boundary at sea, most of the outer boundary of the Gulf of Tonkin.

In all of these cases, the ship owner was warned by the shore station, notified to relevant units, and verified when the ship returned to shore. Therefore, no fishing vessels have been handled for crossing the allowed boundary at sea. 

The whole province has 385 unregistered fishing vessels, of which 36 are "3 no" (no registration, no inspection, no fishing license) fishing vessels and 349 are "2 no" (no registration, no fishing license) fishing vessels lacking documents according to regulations.

Up to now, the People's Committees of districts are guiding fishing vessel owners to register according to Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BNNPTNT dated May 6, 2024 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 23/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 15, 2018.

Regarding the province's solutions, for "3 no" and "2 no" fishing vessels, the province will direct the completion of registration before October 30, 2024, and completely handle before the deadline of December 31, 2024.

For fishing vessels with expired registration, the province has currently directed specialized agencies to guide ship owners to comply with the law. At the same time, consider establishing a fishing vessel registration facility outside the state management function to promptly carry out this work for local fishing vessels. This task will be completed by the end of 2024.

After listening to the report, opinions, and previous actual inspections, at the working session, many issues were discussed, evaluated, and withdrawn from experience by members of MARD's working delegation so that the fight against IUU fishing in Thua Thien - Hue will achieve higher results in the coming time.

Mr. Hoang Hai Minh, Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien - Hue Provincial People's Committee, frankly acknowledged shortcomings and limitations in the fight against IUU fishing in the province in recent times. At the same time, receive recommendations and proposals of MARD's working delegation related to the responsibility for sanctioning; regimes and policies to support fishing vessels; handling of violating fishing vessels, etc.

Mr. Pham Duc Tien, Deputy Secretary of the Thua Thien - Hue Provincial Party Committee, requested the province's departments and branches focus on overcoming the shortcomings and limitations that the working delegation has analyzed and clearly indicated. At the same time, he affirmed that the unit will continue to lead, direct, and implement the work of combating IUU fishing in Thua Thien - Hue more specifically and practically in the coming time. Deploy the fight against IUU fishing based on the responsibilities and tasks of each sector to achieve high results.

Concluding the working session, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien affirmed that the fight against IUU fishing is an extremely urgent and important task today. The question here is how Thua Thien - Hue province has implemented the fight against IUU fishing and whether there are any difficulties and obstacles to focus on solving and implementing better in the coming time. 

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that leaders of Thua Thien - Hue province and local departments, agencies, and branches need to firmly grasp the situation and strictly handle cases of fishing vessels intentionally violating IUU.

Focusing on leadership and direction is not enough, but it is necessary to implement the work of combating IUU fishing in Thua Thien - Hue more substantially and specifically; closely manage and monitor the activities of fishing vessels when going offshore and at sea.

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien also requested the provincial leaders and departments and branches of Thua Thien - Hue province to look straight at the truth and frankly specify inadequacies and shortcomings from the current reality to focus on overcoming them.

Based on the province's results achieved and shortcomings and limitations in IUU work, the working delegation will advise and propose to the Politburo, Secretariat, and Central Ministries and branches to have more specific and realistic directions and effectively implement the fight against IUU fishing in Thua Thien - Hue. 

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien noted that Thua Thien - Hue province needs to pay attention to public investment disbursement and investment in aquatic infrastructure; focus on directing and implementing drastically and urgently in the fight against IUU fishing to bring more specific and practical results in the coming time.