Continue actions against IUU fishing

The Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang will continue cooperating with the High Command of the Coast Guard Region 4 to enhance communications work to raise fishermen’s awareness about the fight against the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Under a cooperation programme for 2024 and 2025 signed between the provincial Party Committee’s information and education board and the coast guard force at a conference on Thursday, both sides will focus on popularising the Party’s guidelines and State’s policies and regulations, agreements that Việt Nam has clinched with competent countries, and Kiên Giang’s documents on sea and islands.

Regulations on the protection and sustainable development of aquatic resources, Việt Nam's legitimate rights at sea in accordance with international law and the achievements that the country has carved out to remove the European Union’s “yellow card” will be brought closer to local people.

They will enhance communication work on the role and potential of sea and islands to the national construction and protection, strategy on sustainable development of the blue economy in tandem with national defence and security.

In the meantime, the two sides will encourage the coast guard officers to overcome challenges to protect the national sovereignty over sea and islands and maintain peace and stability in the southwestern waters. They will also work to fight against wrongful and hostile views on the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) issue and the relationship between Việt Nam and relevant countries.

According to head of the information and education board Nguyễn Thanh Phong, the communication campaign between the two sides has paid off over the past years, helping reduce the number of fishing vessels infringing on foreign waters. In 2020, there were 43 violating cases while the figure was brought down to 16 in 2023.

Located in the southwestern region, Kiên Giang has a coastline of 200 kilometres, 143 small and large islands, and a sea area of more than 63,000 square kilometres.

Meanwhile, the south-central province of Ninh Thuận has been undertaking measures to fight IUU fishing along with 27 other coastal localities.

Trịnh Minh Hoàng, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee said the committee has issued an action plan to ensure effective implementation of IUU fishing prevention and control.

Coastal communes and wards have been asked to conduct communication campaigns to enhance vessel owners' and fishermen's awareness.

The province's fisheries sub-department has been required to guide vessel owners to carry out registration and licensing procedures for fishing operations and updating data into the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).

Relevant units have been assigned to strictly control fishing vessels and notify those that do not maintain monitoring equipment as requested or sail beyond allowed boundaries at sea for handling. They must ensure that all fishing boats, which are 15 metres in length, dock at designed ports to load and unload aquatic products as well as submit records of their fishery activities.

The provincial border guard command and the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development were asked to launch a peak campaign on inspecting and strictly dealing with IUU fishing and not allowing fishing vessels that don’t meet requirements to leave the ports.

According to the local fisheries sub-department, all offshore boats have been granted licenses and the number of fishing vessels equipped with vessel monitoring system (VMS) reached 99.7 per cent. Of which, all fishing vessels longer than 24 meters have VMS installed. Now there are no fishing vessels from Ninh Thuận violating foreign waters.

In the southernmost province of Cà Mau, the border guard force has strengthened collaboration with relevant agencies and local authorities to promote dissemination to persuade fishermen to follow regulations on fishing.

According to the Border Guard Command of Cà Mau province, since February 26, it has detected and imposed administrative fines on three cases and seven vessels for violating rules on exploiting aquatic resources.

From the beginning of 2024, border guard stations in the province have worked with local administrations to organise more than 20 dissemination sessions, attracting more than 2,500 people. They helped raise awareness of fishermen in complying with regulations on fishing, contributing to maintaining social order and safety and protecting aquatic resources in maritime border areas.