Overcoming IUU 'yellow card': Cruise monitoring warns ships not to commit violations

Photo caption — Organize propaganda and distribute leaflets to ship owners and crew members about regulations in fishing and exploiting aquatic products (documentary photo).

Thanks to that, fishing activities have become an important economic sector of the locality. On average, the province's annual fishing output reaches more than 250 thousand tons, creating jobs for about 23 thousand people directly at sea and working as service workers on shore. Therefore, the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the removal of the "yellow card" warning of the European Commission (EC) has always been implemented by Vinh Long province with synchronous solutions with the determination to prevent the province's fishing vessels from violating IUU fishing.

Government and fishermen agree

Tan Thuy Commune, Vinh Long Province is one of the localities with the largest fishing fleet in the province. From a "hot spot" in the number of fishing vessels violating the law a few years ago, the commune has now reduced and completely prevented this situation. This result comes from the experience and creative approach of the commune leaders in integrating propaganda on regulations against IUU fishing.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hau, Vice Chairman of Tan Thuy Commune People's Committee, said that along with propaganda measures, calling on fishermen to implement policies and laws, the locality has deployed a model of assigning cadres and party members to "monitor and encourage" fishing boat owners "at high risk" of violating regulations against IUU fishing. After a period of implementation, this model has achieved very good results. All boat owners are aware of and have a firm grasp of the regulations, thereby, together with the locality, complying well with the policies and laws of the state in fishing, not violating IUU fishing.

Mr. Dang Van Hong, Head of An Loi Hamlet, Tan Thuy Commune, shared that every week he often joins in drinking tea with the ship owners, thereby visiting and encouraging the ship owners and understanding which sea areas the fishing vessels are currently operating in. Through the meeting, Mr. Hong propagates and integrates the story of the regulations in combating IUU fishing, thanks to which the vessels that were previously invited back because of "lost signal" in the border area, now do a very good job of connecting the journey between the ship and the mainland. Strictly comply with the regulations when exploiting aquatic products.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, a fishing boat owner in Tan Thuy commune, Vinh Long province, said that through the propaganda of local authorities and functional agencies, he is clearly aware and always complies with the regulations before going to sea. Mr. Dung shared that when going to sea, the boat owner rarely goes with the crew, so he always requires the boat captain to fully prepare the necessary requirements such as: journey monitoring device, comply with the fishing area, do not violate the fishing area. Prepare the administrative procedures and list of members to leave the port...

In addition, Mr. Dung always connects and monitors the ship's journey, and when he notices that the boundary has been crossed or there is a violation, he immediately reports it so that the captain does not violate it. Currently, fishermen also want to join hands with the government so that seafood exports, including leading export enterprises, will increase the value of their products, and fishermen will also benefit from that profit.

Sharing the same awareness and action as Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, the owner of Duc Nguyen ship (Tan Thuy commune) Nguyen Van Quyen said that he had installed two VMS devices for his ship. The reason was because he was worried that if he only had one device, if the signal was damaged or lost, he would have a second one to replace it. Doing so would ensure that the ship did not violate the law.

Take decisive action

During the peak days of the national fight against IUU fishing, Vinh Long province has increased patrolling, inspection and control of fishing vessel activities in estuaries, coastal areas and offshore areas under the province's management. Since the beginning of the year, the Department of Fisheries, Fisheries and Islands has coordinated with relevant units to conduct 12 inspections of compliance with regulations on fishing at sea in the province, directly inspecting 287 fishing vessels. The inspection content focuses on records and papers related to fishing vessels and crew members; inspection and control of equipment installed on fishing vessels; fishing areas

Major Le Minh Trung, Political Commissar of Ham Luong Border Guard Station, said that in order to carry out patrolling, controlling, and strictly managing vehicles entering and exiting the area, preventing and combating IUU illegal fishing, the Command of Ham Luong Border Guard Station has directed strict handling of cases violating the provisions of the law. The border guard force coordinates with forces such as fisheries control and local authorities to do a good job of propagating and mobilizing the masses to strictly comply with the State's policies and laws, and regulations on preventing and combating IUU illegal fishing.

Along with that, the border guards coordinated to propagate individual fishing vessels that are in the "03 no" category, with a high risk of illegally exploiting aquatic products in foreign waters; propagate and remind fishing vessels that violate regulations through groups on zalo, social networks... Thereby, fishermen are aware that in the process of exploiting aquatic products, they must strictly comply with legal regulations, especially regulations on violating foreign waters, regulations on "03 no" fishing vessels.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Vinh Long province, the province is one of the localities with a large fishing fleet in the Mekong Delta. The annual output reaches more than 250,000 tons. The whole province has 4 fishing ports, Binh Dai, Ba Tri, Thanh Phu and Dinh An fishing ports, with a total capacity of loading and unloading aquatic products of 173,000 tons/year. From the beginning of 2025 until now, Vinh Long province has no more fishing vessels violating regulations on fishing in foreign waters, 100% of fishing vessels operating in the area are registered, inspected, and licensed for fishing; all exploited aquatic products are traced electronically through electronic fishing logs and the national fisheries database system....

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Vinh Long province Nguyen Van Buoi said that the implementation of solutions to prevent IUU fishing in the past time has achieved positive results. The awareness of fishermen in coastal communes has been raised very clearly. Fishermen grasp the legal regulations on fishing and exploitation of aquatic products. In the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Vinh Long province continues to coordinate with local departments and branches to focus on implementing the peak action month plan to combat IUU fishing. In particular, focusing on propaganda work to mobilize ship owners to strictly comply with regulations on IUU prevention work. Localities continue to assign party members to support propaganda work for ship owners.

Along with that, the province strengthens the management of fleets, organizes patrols to control 100% of ships when they arrive at and leave ports, collects logbooks according to regulations, etc. Currently, Vinh Long province is piloting electronic logbooks for fishing vessels; continues to assign officers on duty 24/7 to monitor the journey to warn ships not to make mistakes.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/khac-phuc-the-vangui-giam-sat-hanh-trinh-canh-bao-cac-tau-khong-mac-sai-pham-20251113065244114.htm