The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the People’s Committee of Phu Yen province co-hosted a conference on April 6 to seek ways to promote sustainable development of the local fishery sector.
Participants focused discussions on how to urgently tackle the European Commission (EC)'s “yellow card” warning related to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as well as lobster farming and future development orientations for the south central province.
They proposed a range of measures to prevent local fishing ships and fishermen from encroaching upon foreign territorial waters. It is necessary to define the role and responsibilities of State management agencies, ship-owners and fishermen in the work, participants stressed.
Tran Dinh Luan, Deputy General Director of the MARD’s Directorate of Fisheries, said localities, including Phu Yen, needs to enhance the monitoring and inspection of fishing activities at sea, and strictly handle violations in line with the Law on Fishery and relevant regulations.
The province should also re-organise the supervision of fishing vessels coming in or leaving ports, and the certification of seafood origin, he said.
The local authorities are working harder to re-zone off farming areas, manage the environment and production.
In 2017, Phu Yen’s aquaculture production was valued at 5.82 trillion VND (around 256.7 million USD), up 6.9 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 35.8 percent in the agro-forestry-aquaculture production value.
In 2018, the locality aims to increase its aquaculture production value by 3-5 percent compared to 2017.
VNA