Subduing the furious wave to remove the 'yellow card'

Le Van Thao, the team supervisor for the Quang Binh Subdepartment of Fisheries, told us, "We use this speedboat because the VN-94429-KN vessel is too ancient and its speed cannot compete with fishing trawlers, not to mention greater fuel consumption. Typically, we use this speedboat for sea patrol".

Five 'no-s' fishing vessels

We are conducting sea patrol with a 10-person capacity speedboat. In addition to five members of the Specialized Inspectors of the Quang Binh Sub-department of Fisheries and a coordination team from the Quang Binh Border Guard's Nhat Le Border Guard Station.

In addition to Captain Le Van Thao, who is the Deputy Head of Administration - Inspection Department of the Quang Binh Fisheries Sub-Department and a civil servant, the remaining three members are Captains Nguyen Tien Quang, Nguyen Van Duan, Dang Thanh Thanh, and Le Van Quoc, who are both officers of the Sub-department.

After nearly two hours, our speedboat reached the open sea approximately 10 nautical miles from the coast. Captain Le Van Thao explained, "Because this is a high speed canoe with a weak hull, the group was unable to travel further out to sea. Once, we pursued an offending fishing vessel too far, only to discover that we were out of fuel upon our return; fortunately, we were able to reach the shore.

We discovered a large vessel heading north; the speedboat accelerated and activated its siren. Spotting that Bao Ninh commune (Dong Hoi city) port of departure for the ship QB188TS captained by Hoang Quy Vinh. This vessel is a fishery logistics vessel that specializes in the acquisition of seafood. Mr. Vinh, the ship's proprietor, stated that the vessel has been at sea for three days but had been unable to purchase a large quantity of seafood. We will return to the shore after two more days.

The fishery logistics vessel had no violations, so the working group's boat continued its journey south.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the first officer Duan discovered through binoculars that two fishing vessels were operating in prohibited waters, so he sped up his approach for administrative inspection. This ship has a 700 CV capacity and is equipped with a solitary rake net.

Nguyen Nghe (in the commune of Hai Trach, district of Bo Trach) is the property owner and captain of the fishing vessel BV 9568S.  According to Ngao, since the ship was purchased from a neighboring province, it lacked legal documentation and did not engage in the permitted activity.

"I observe that my ship has numerous defects. But to make a livelihood, I took a risk". Mr Ngheu promised that for the next voyage, his ship would require a variety of new documents. The inspection team documented violations in accordance with regulations.

The mission continued to inspect the fishing vessel QB 1129TS, owned and captained by Mr. Hoang Viet Phong (a resident of Bao Ninh commune, Dong Hoi City). This vessel sailed despite having completed the exchange and the documentation associated with the unfinished fishing vessel. The mission has communicated with and reminded fishermen to strictly adhere to regulations pertaining to fishing vessels and to use only the permitted items.

We were about to have lunch when we learned that Le Van Ty, a resident of Duc Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province, and the proprietor and captain of fishing vessel QB 9256TS, engaged in squid shooting, through the procedure of examining the documents of QB 9256TS. The working group reminded fishermen to actively adhere to the sea, to never violate maritime borders, to always maintain voyage monitoring equipment, and to participate actively in IUU fishing prevention.

According to Mr. Ty, the QB 9256TS operates only at night on the open ocean. During the day, the ship anchors here for safety purposes, and at the end of the day, it returns to the fishing grounds in accordance with regulations.

Sea patrol needs to know when to return

Near the end of the afternoon, the task force inspected three more fishing vessels approximately 10 nautical miles off the coast. The majority of ships have infractions such as insufficient life vests for fishermen on board, "forgetting" to bring the captain's certificate, or transporting only a copy. The task force reminded the commanders of these vessels so that the next voyage would not contravene the regulations.

"Although we remind you, we are absolutely aware of the ship's information and the violation's coordinates. If the offense was repeated, the vessel would be forced to return to shore and administrative sanctions would be applied in accordance with the regulations," said Captain Le Van Thao stated. 

Captain Thao turned the speedboat toward the shore when he discovered the ship was operating in the area while the sun was still overhead. Captain Thao explained, "The sea will become turbulent if we don't arrive in time. At that time, the large swells make travel in our vessels very dangerous. It is extremely risky to reach the Nhat Le estuary. Sometimes I must go to the shore while my coworkers watch."

As the canoe entered Nhat Le gate, large waves appeared to be pursuing it. When the weather changed, the first waves leaped up violently and struck the speedboat's stern. We had to use both hands to cling to the side of the boat in order to avoid being hurled overboard by the violent waves.