Strengthening the presence of the Fisheries Surveillance Force in the Southwestern waters

Strengthening maritime patrol activities

Mr. Nguyen Phu Quoc, Director of the Region V Fisheries Surveillance Department, said that in 2023, the unit plans to carry out 15 batches of patrol, inspection, and control at sea. Each batch lasts 18–20 days using specialized fisheries surveillance ships to inspect, control, and handle violations of the law in the field of fisheries in the Southwestern waters, waters bordering with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and historical waters of Vietnam and Cambodia.

During trips of patrol, inspection, and control, the Fisheries Surveillance Force often faces adverse weather conditions and strong winds, making it difficult to approach fishing vessels. However, the fishing vessels all cooperated and coordinated to stop the vessel for a safe approach. As for ship owners and captains, most have complied with the Law on Fisheries before setting sail and brought full identity papers and documents related to fishing activities.

During the patrol and inspection process, it was found that the law enforcement of trawlers in Kien Giang province, which was operating during this period in the bordering and overlapping areas between Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, has made positive changes, carrying relatively all necessary documents.

However, the vessels in Ben Tre province that have been operating at sea for many months have not yet returned to shore, so there are still errors such as incomplete recording of fishing logs as prescribed and not having a captain’s or chief engineer’s license as prescribed. The delegation treated the matter seriously and, at the same time, guided the captains on how to keep a complete and correct fishing log.

Handling many violating fishing vessels

During a patrol, inspection, and control mission at sea from October 3–22, the fisheries surveillance ship KN-569 approached 57 fishing vessels operating in the Southwestern waters. Of these, there are 39 trawlers, 6 tunny-net vessels, 4 gillnet vessels, 5 fishing vessels, and 3 fisheries logistics service vessels. Through inspection, the delegation made a record and issued a decision to sanction administrative violations in the fisheries field for 8 cases/8 ships, with a total fine of VND 71 million.

The main violations include not having a captain's license as prescribed (fishing vessels KG-94625-TS, KG-91813-TS), not having a captain's license and a chief engineer's license according to regulations (fishing vessel CM-93777-TS), not fully recording the fishing log for fishing vessels with a maximum length of less than 24m according to regulations (fishing vessels BT-97354-TS, BT-93655-TS, BT-93907-TS), and not buying insurance for crew members working on fishing vessels (fishing vessels BT-93399-TS, BT-92875-TS).

In the process of carrying out their tasks, the Fisheries Surveillance Force has seriously implemented the inspection and control of “3 NOs” fishing vessels: no registration, no fishing license, no registration.

The delegation did not detect violations in Article 20 of Decree 42/2019/ND-CP dated May 16, 2019 of the Government. The delegation received information from the coast station about fishing vessels losing their cruise monitoring signals in the waters where the delegation operated. However, during the process of patrolling, inspecting, and controlling, the delegation did not encounter the cases included in the information provided by the coast station.

The delegation also strictly implemented the work of sanctioning administrative violations in the fisheries field according to Decree 42/2019/ND-CP dated May 16, 2019 in accordance with functions and authority according to the provisions of law. This aims to minimize and progress toward ending the situation of fishing vessels with illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing or fishing vessels violating foreign waters.

During the process of patrol, the Fisheries Surveillance Force regularly grasps information from the coast station and the Sub-Departments of Fisheries in the localities of Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ben Tre, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau. At the same time, exchange directly with the ships of the Fisheries Surveillance Branch permanently anchored in areas near the demarcation line. The work of coordination and timely information partly increases the effectiveness of inspection, control, and handling of violations at sea in the fisheries field.