Promoting data connectivity, tightening management of fishing vessels to combat IUU fishing

On the morning of November 18, at the Government Headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU), chaired the 22nd meeting of the Steering Committee, connecting online with 21 coastal provinces and cities.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha gave a directive speech. Photo: VNA

According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , as of November 15, the total number of fishing vessels in localities registered and updated on the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase) is 79,360/79,360 fishing vessels (reaching 100%), the rate of licensed fishing is 76,811/79,360 fishing vessels.

The number of fishing vessels that do not meet operating conditions has been controlled by localities, assigned to communes/wards, forces, and management officers with fishing vessel mooring locations.

During the week, no fishing vessels violating foreign waters were arrested. The Ministry of Public Security has initiated 3 criminal cases against 4 defendants; brought 5 cases/12 defendants to trial. Accumulated from the beginning of 2024 to November 15, 2025, the police agency has initiated 91 criminal cases of IUU violations, prosecuted 136 defendants; brought 48 cases to trial, 101 defendants.

From Session 21 to Session 22, authorities discovered and handled 62 vessels that lost connection to the vehicle monitoring system (VMS) and exceeded the permitted exploitation boundary at sea.

Of the total 80 tasks assigned by the Prime Minister, ministries and branches have completed 55 tasks and are continuing to implement 25 tasks focusing on 3 groups: Management and control of aquatic exploitation (updating the list of high-risk fishing vessels; monitoring and synthesizing IUU fishing behavior; inspecting and supervising exploited and imported aquatic products; digitizing fishing vessel management, directing inter-sectoral coordination to combat IUU fishing; working with fishermen arrested and handled abroad...); international cooperation, diplomacy and timely information to the EC (European Union) and related countries on viewpoints and efforts to combat IUU fishing; ensuring information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, assessing the quality of telecommunications services; updating the number of VMS service subscribers weekly.

Localities were assigned 19 tasks, of which 4 tasks were behind schedule, including: Issuing policies on job conversion and decommissioning fishing vessels that do not need to operate in the fishing industry and policies to support fishermen in upgrading and replacing VMS equipment; completing handling of fishing vessels that lost VMS connection and exceeded the permitted fishing boundary at sea; completing handling of fishing vessels that illegally exploited seafood in foreign waters and were arrested; completing 100% of fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more leaving and entering ports on the system for tracing the origin of exploited aquatic products (eCDT).

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien speaks. Photo: VNA

Localities are regularly deploying task forces to combat illegal fishing (IUU), including: Management and monitoring of fishing vessels; traceability and certification, upgrading VMS equipment; supporting fishermen and improving infrastructure; handling violations and reporting updated data, lists of high-risk vessels and periodic reports...

At the meeting, a representative of the Ministry of Public Security said that the Ministry had directed the police of 21 coastal localities to update information on fishing vessels and vessel owners into the national population database (VNeID), and to check the security and safety of the data system. However, the connection between the fishing vessel management system of the Ministry of National Defense, the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) and VNeID has not been completed because it has not fully met technical standards and information security and safety.

Meanwhile, Viettel Group has deployed solutions to connect the Ministry of National Defense's fishing vessel management system with VNFishbase and eCDT; and proposed that, instead of directly connecting VNeID from many separate systems, data will be centrally integrated through the Ministry of National Defense's fishing vessel management system, ensuring level 3 information security and maintaining connectivity and consistency.

Concluding the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized the leading role of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in state management of fisheries, and requested relevant agencies to directly urge and inspect to overcome delays in performing assigned tasks.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment updated the regulations on decentralization of management of fishing vessels of 24m or more from the central to local levels, especially regarding the authority to impose administrative sanctions, monitor and manage data when amending and supplementing Decree No. 37/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Fisheries.

Regarding the national fisheries database, the Deputy Prime Minister directed to urgently complete the project to build a synchronous, unified, interconnected, and shared national fisheries data system before December 31, ensuring that the data is "correct, sufficient, clean, and alive" and fully serves the management, traceability, and monitoring of fishing vessels, with clear authorization for each subject, including the people, to access and declare. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment was assigned to preside over and coordinate with technical experts to build the system's architecture, functions, and authorization.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Government Inspectorate to review all legal tools and sanctions for handling administrative violations related to IUU fishing, select a number of localities to inspect and provide guidance to handle 100% of outstanding cases.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired the meeting. Photo: VNA

Localities are required to review fishing vessels, ensure each vessel has its own data set, control vessels that are eligible to operate, revoke expired or unqualified vessel licenses, and implement measures to support fishermen.

Regarding port management, localities coordinate with the Ministry of National Defense and the Border Guard to identify qualified fishing ports, support private fishing ports to complete procedures, and move towards automating the registration process and certifying the origin of exploited aquatic products.

In the long term, localities need to assess livelihood transformation for fishermen, build sustainable fisheries policies, link reasonable exploitation with natural supply capacity, and at the same time promote high-tech offshore seafood farming and cooperate in seafood exploitation in international waters...

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/day-manh-lien-thong-du-lieu-siet-quan-ly-tau-ca-phuc-vu-chong-khai-thac-iuu-20251118142634634.htm