On the morning of June 19, under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien - Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on IUU, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held an online meeting to discuss urgent measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), and remove the EC's yellow card by August 30, 2025.
Nghe An attended the meeting chaired by comrade Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.
Overview of Nghe An province bridge. Photo: Phu Huong
Focus on urgent, synchronous solutions
At the meeting, representatives of the provinces reported on the implementation of the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) and the removal of the EC yellow card; at the same time, they pointed out difficulties in the implementation process and recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the National Steering Committee on IUU support some issues to better implement this work locally.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien requested that localities and competent agencies continue to focus all resources and effectively implement key solutions in the coming time. By all means, prevent and minimize the situation of fishing vessels violating foreign waters and strictly handle violations.
At the same time, review and manage the fleet more closely and thoroughly, ensuring that 100% of fishing vessels operating at sea meet the requirements such as installing a voyage monitoring device (VMS), having a fishing log, and having to turn on the connection even when on shore. Forces must strengthen control and confirm the origin of seafood at the port.
Comrade Nguyen Van De presided at Nghe An bridge point. Photo: Phu Huong
It is expected that in October 2025, the European Commission (EC) will agree with Vietnam to conduct an inspection to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“These measures must be focused on and resolved thoroughly so that Vietnam has the opportunity to remove the IUU yellow card. It is necessary to clearly define that the effort to combat IUU fishing is not only aimed at removing the EC's yellow card, but also at protecting sustainable aquatic resources and ensuring the livelihoods of Vietnamese fishermen," the Deputy Minister emphasized.
The content against IUU fishing all achieved high rates.
Currently, the total number of fishing vessels in Nghe An is 2,986 (2,664 vessels over 6m; 1,044 vessels over 15m). To combat IUU fishing and remove the EC's yellow card, the entire political system of Nghe An has taken drastic action, implementing synchronously from the province to the grassroots level.
The province promptly issued 3 resolutions on funding and policy mechanisms to support fishermen (installing voyage monitoring devices, subscription fees, supporting fuel costs for offshore fishing trips...).
Up to now, the rates of registration, inspection of fishing vessels, issuance of fishing licenses, and installation of voyage monitoring equipment have all reached high levels: Completed registration of 614/614 "3 no" fishing vessels, completed 100% of fishing vessel registration and fully updated fishing vessel data to the national fisheries database; Inspection of fishing vessels reached 94.8%; Issuance of fishing licenses reached 95.66%; Issuance of food safety certificates for fishing vessels reached 93.30% and Installation of voyage monitoring equipment for fishing vessels reached 99.43%.
Authorities have strictly implemented the preparation and updating of the list of fishing vessels at risk of violating IUU fishing every week according to regulations; posted the list of fishing vessels that are not eligible to participate in fishing activities in the residential community and assigned local authorities to monitor and control.
Representatives of relevant sectors attended the online meeting. Photo: Phu Huong
In 2024, Nghe An fined 290 subjects, with a total fine of over 5.3 billion VND (nearly 8 times higher than in 2023); in the first 6 months of 2025, 78 subjects were fined with a total fine of over 1.2 billion VND, of which 31 subjects were fined for losing connection to monitoring the journey, with a total fine of 892 million VND; no cases of local fishing vessels violating illegal fishing in foreign waters have been detected.
In the coming time, the province will continue to focus resources and human resources to investigate, verify and strictly handle violations related to fishing vessel tracking devices. Direct the Provincial Border Guard Command to speed up the investigation, verification and handling of fishing vessels that violate VMS connection.
Along with that, continue to strictly manage the fleet, make a list of fishing vessels that are not qualified to operate, assign specific tasks to individuals to monitor, supervise and manage; especially organize a review of fishing vessels that have been sold, burned, sunk, or are no longer operating to remove them from the list of fishing vessel registrations, in order to "clean" fishing vessel data on the national fisheries database.
Fisheries Surveillance Force of Nghe An Province's Interdisciplinary Inspection Team inspects the journey monitoring equipment on fishing boats in offshore waters. Photo: Nguyen Hai
At the same time, all fishing vessels over 15m in length must leave, dock and unload products at designated fishing ports to increase the rate of monitored catches through ports. Strictly control vessels entering and leaving ports. Border Guard stations and checkpoints are determined not to allow departure of fishing vessels that have lost connection to the monitoring device at sea but have not been punished according to regulations.
Nghe An province recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Central Government pay attention to investing in projects to upgrade and build infrastructure for fishing ports, storm shelters for fishing boats, and key projects in Nghe An, creating favorable conditions for fishing boats to operate smoothly and improve production efficiency.
Source: https://baonghean.vn/ban-giai-phap-cap-bach-chong-khai-thac-iuu-go-the-vang-cua-ec-10299929.html
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