Closely control ships entering and leaving ports

Tho Quang fishing port and dock (Da Nang City) is the destination of many fishermen from the Central region. Every day, dozens of fishing boats arrive and depart from the port, with a seafood volume of about 150 tons/day. Therefore, the management and supervision of output are strictly implemented by the authorities.

Head of Tho Quang Fishing Port and Lock Management Board, Mr. Nguyen Lai informed that the unit regularly disseminates directives on IUU fishing prevention and control to each fishing vessel and fisherman. At the same time, it strengthens inspection and examination of fishing vessels at sea and when entering and leaving the port, and strictly handles violations.

In addition, penalties will be imposed for violations of fishing logs and entry and exit logs, lack of required documents, failure to authenticate fishing vessel crew registers; especially fishing vessels that illegally violate foreign waters, fishing vessels that do not install or turn on voyage monitoring devices.

To date, 573/598 fishing vessels with the largest length of 15m or more have installed voyage monitoring equipment; for 25 vessels that have not yet been installed, 17 vessels have temporarily stopped operating due to lack of labor and expired inspection and fishing licenses, 6 new vessels are undergoing registration procedures,...

In Quang Nam, the IUU office was established with 3 forces: the Department of Fisheries, the Border Guard and the Center for Fishing Vessel Inspection and Management of Quang Nam Fishing Port to inspect and control 24/7 ships entering and leaving the port according to regulations; strictly handle violations.

Regularly look up information on fishing vessels arriving at fishing ports on the national fishing vessel tracking system, Vnfishbase database, and list of IUU fishing vessels; promptly detect and transfer records to competent authorities to handle violating fishing vessels.

According to Mr. Vo Van Long, Head of the Quang Nam Fisheries Sub-Department, the IUU office controls fishing vessels according to the prescribed ratio; announces designated fishing ports to confirm the origin of aquatic products from exploitation; fishing vessels illegally exploit aquatic products; confirms raw materials, and certifies the origin of exploited aquatic products.

“From 2020 to July 11, 2023, specialized inspections, checks, and controls were organized to administratively sanction 439 violations of regulations in IUU fishing activities, with a total fine of more than 4.7 billion VND,” said Mr. Long.

For Quang Ngai, Head of the Department of Fisheries   Nguyen Van Muoi said that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development annually organizes dozens of conferences to propagate and educate about the law on fisheries, with more than 700 participants; propagates the 2017 Fisheries Law and combats IUU fishing,... Compiles and prints 6,000 brochures on fisheries law to distribute to fishermen; conducts oral propaganda, distributes leaflets and documents to more than 3,000 fishermen,...

The Provincial Border Guard Command directed Border Guard stations to coordinate with People's Committees of communes and wards in the coastal border area, in addition to propaganda, to mobilize ship owners and captains to write commitments not to illegally exploit seafood in foreign waters.

To serve management work, the total number of fishing vessels of the province whose data is updated into the national fisheries database system is 4,287 fishing vessels, with a total capacity of 1,765,282 CV.

“Up to now (November 2023), the whole province has 2,937 vessels installed with VMS/3,117 fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more required to install VMS, reaching 99.16% of the total number of vessels in operation (excluding 155 vessels on shore); there are 25 vessels operating in and outside the province that have not yet installed the equipment,” Mr. Muoi informed.

Thanks to thorough monitoring, inspection and control of fishing vessel activities through VMS, the situation of fishing vessels in the province violating foreign waters to illegally exploit seafood has been basically controlled and prevented.

From 2020 to present, Quang Ngai province has not had any cases of fishing vessels violating foreign waters being arrested or processed. However, there have been 3 cases/3 fishing vessels being arrested by foreign countries (in 2021: 1 case/1 vessel, in 2022: 2 cases/2 vessels), but the authorities have verified, investigated and concluded that there were no cases of violating foreign waters.

Surprise check

Binh Dinh, one of the provinces with the largest fishing vessels in the country, is also taking measures to remove the IUU 'yellow card'. Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Dinh province, Mr. Tran Van Phuc, shared that after reviewing, there were 375 vessels of the province that regularly operate in the southern provinces, but do not return to their localities every year; 72 vessels were sold outside the province but the owners have not completed the transfer procedures, and 8 vessels had their residence moved outside the province.

The locality has signed a separate regulation on coordination of fishing vessel management with the southern provinces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Binh Thuan; a regulation on coordination of fishing vessel management with 10 central provinces (from Thanh Hoa to Khanh Hoa). Organized 5 inter-sectoral working groups to work with the southern provinces to coordinate the management of fishing vessels of the province.

Along with that, conduct irregular inspections of 142 fishing vessels (62 vessels with a length of 15m or more; 80 vessels with a length of 12-under 15m) on technical safety and fishing conditions for fishing vessels from Binh Dinh operating and anchoring in Ba Ria - Vung Tau; request Ba Ria - Vung Tau not to carry out procedures to leave the fishing port for 18 fishing vessels that do not ensure technical safety.

Localities organize 24/7 shore station system to monitor, receive information, detect and handle fishing vessels that exceed permitted boundaries at sea; do not maintain operations or disable journey monitoring equipment during operations at sea.

Every week, the unit will update the list of fishing vessels in Binh Dinh province at high risk of violating regulations on illegal fishing, send notices and request the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Border Guard Commands of coastal provinces to coordinate in strengthening the prevention of IUU fishing.

Cong Sang - Diem Phuc