The agriculture and rural development sector, units, localities, and fishing communities have been carrying out many tasks and solutions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to quickly remove the European Commission's (EC) "yellow card" warning.
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| Many measures have been implemented by departments, branches, units, and localities to join hands to remove the EC's "yellow card" warning. IN PHOTO: Leaders of Hai Chau District People's Committee and units present national flags and gifts to encourage fishermen to go offshore on the morning of February 23. Photo: VAN HOANG |
Improve management efficiency
In Hai Chau district, at the end of February 2024, many fishermen in the area were informed, guided and introduced to regulations on combating IUU fishing by the Da Nang Port Border Guard Command. This is an annual activity jointly organized by the locality and units to raise fishermen's awareness of compliance. After the information session, the fishermen all agreed to sign a commitment to comply with and not violate regulations during their operations.
Ms. Phan Thi Thang Loi, Vice Chairman of Hai Chau District People's Committee, said that the locality has always paid attention to, focused on and implemented fisheries promotion movements and activities to support fishermen in going offshore and sticking to the sea for many years. The district regularly coordinates with units, requiring localities in the area to focus on propagating and disseminating laws, raising awareness of fishermen, especially strictly implementing the contents of the Fisheries Law and regulations related to combating IUU fishing; improving necessary skills so that fishermen can feel secure, proactively catch seafood safely and effectively in the country's fishing grounds.
According to the City Fisheries Department, the implementation of solutions to overcome the EC's warning on combating IUU fishing in the city has achieved many positive results. Accordingly, propaganda work has been strengthened, inspection, review, and reporting of actual data on Da Nang fishing vessels have been well implemented. Up to now, there are 1,192 registered fishing vessels in the city; of which, 286 operate inshore, 311 operate in offshore areas, and 595 operate in offshore areas. The installation of voyage monitoring equipment for offshore fishing vessels has been completed; 100% of Da Nang fishing vessels operating at sea have been monitored around the clock through the fishing vessel monitoring system and fishing vessels that lose signals at sea and fishing vessels showing signs of violating foreign waters have been promptly handled.
In 2023, the department organized 8 patrols, inspected and handled 53 cases of IUU fishing violations with a total fine of more than 1.2 billion VND; the City Border Guard inspected 5,710 vehicles/40,874 workers and sanctioned 25 cases of non-compliance with inspection and control. Thanks to the effective implementation of measures, up to now, the city has not had any fishing vessels violating regulations on fishing in foreign waters being arrested or handled; there have been no cases of fishing vessels losing monitoring signals.
Mr. Luu Quang Khanh, Head of the Fisheries Sub-Department, said that in the coming time, the Sub-Department will continue to inform, propagate and guide legal regulations for fishermen and related organizations and individuals to raise awareness of law compliance, not to violate IUU fishing; continue to effectively carry out the work of confirming, certifying, tracing the origin of aquatic products, controlling fishing vessels entering/exiting ports, monitoring exploited aquatic product output; regularly review, update and supplement information on fishing vessels to the national fisheries database (VNFishbase). The Sub-Department also requested units and localities to strengthen the organization of inspection and control of fishing vessels and crew; strictly punish violations; closely monitor and manage fishing vessels with a maximum length of less than 12m, ensuring that no more illegal means of transport arise...
Accelerating electronic traceability of exploited seafood
Also according to the Department of Fisheries, in early March 2024, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development organized a training course on the implementation of the "Electronic seafood traceability software system - eCDT VN" with the participation of management units, organizations, individuals, exporting enterprises and ship and boat owners. This is a shared software, installed and used by smartphones to provide full declaration processes and functions according to regulations developed by the Department of Fisheries and implemented nationwide. The software ensures the functions of all management agencies, ships, etc. in accordance with legal procedures, helping to make traceability steps transparent, moving towards completely automating the process to replace the current paper-based traceability.
It is known that the software has the functions of managing fishing vessels leaving the port and recording initial data about the vessel and crew; recording the catch at the time of fishing through the electronic logbook; managing vessels entering the port, updating catch; monitoring output through the port, issuing receipts for loading and unloading, purchasing fish at the port; issuing certificates and certificates of origin of raw materials for processing plants. In particular, this software also supports recording catch logs and logs of transporting caught products in an environment without internet, automatically synchronizing when the vessel arrives at the port and connects to the internet.
According to Mr. Nguyen Lai, Head of Tho Quang Fishing Port and Lock Management Board, the application of electronic traceability software for exploited aquatic products will facilitate the quick import and export of fishing vessels, and easily confirm output and certify output for businesses. On the other hand, this software will help the management board shorten the time for confirmation and certification, meet the needs of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, and avoid errors and confusion.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Van My emphasized that the implementation of the "Electronic Traceability Software System for Exploited Aquatic Products" is very important, necessary and mandatory to meet the requirements of implementing solutions to combat IUU fishing, joining hands with the whole country to remove the EC's "yellow card" warning. In the coming time, relevant units and organizations need to step up propaganda, join hands in coordination, organize synchronously and guide fishermen to install and effectively use the software.
VAN HOANG
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