Lam Dong and the whole country are determined to remove the EC's "yellow card"

Lam Dong province implements policies to support people in developing aquaculture.

Resolutely monitor and inspect

Statistics show that the whole province currently has 8,407 fishing vessels with a length of 6 m or more registered and updated on the national fisheries database (VNFishbase). Specifically, the proportion of fishing vessels with a length of 15 m or more that have installed VMS (100%), granted fishing licenses (77.2%), and valid inspections (78.5%). Of which, 1,745 fishing vessels were supported with nearly 17.5 billion VND to install VMS equipment (journey monitoring); 2,710 "3 no" fishing vessels (not registered, not inspected and not operating in foreign waters) were put under management.

The Lam Dong Provincial Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing said that in order to prevent fishing vessels from violating foreign waters, the Steering Committee combines propaganda, dissemination and legal education with strict management, inspection and control of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports. In particular, 100% of offshore fishing vessel owners and captains are required to sign a commitment not to violate foreign waters; organize on-duty, monitor and supervise fishing vessels operating through the journey monitoring system.

At the end of September 2025, the Department of Agriculture and Environment established an Inspection Team to inspect the implementation of regulations on preventing and combating IUU fishing for 12 establishments and enterprises purchasing, processing and exporting seafood to the European market, thereby guiding the implementation of strict records, ensuring compliance with regulations to be ready to work with the EC Inspection Team.

Prevent violations early, from afar

From 2023 to now, establishments and enterprises have exported 223 batches of dried and frozen seafood to the EU market. In particular, Hai Trieu Company Limited exported 17 batches to the EU market in the first 9 months of 2025, an increase of 10 batches compared to 2024. Random checks of 17 export records showed full exploitation logs, port unloading receipts, production and export records; consistent information between records on time, exploitation area, fish landing date, volume, type, production date, etc.

The inspection team of Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Environment recorded that the purchase and supply of aquatic materials had a quality management program according to HACCP standards, fully recorded production records, had a sales contract with fishing vessels, a food safety certificate, and a valid commitment letter from the fishing vessel.

For seafood processing for export, all 6/6 inspected enterprises have issued procedures for managing input materials, storing scientific records, and easily tracing origins; applying quality management certification systems BRC, HACCP according to Codex, MSC, FIP, Smecta; and controlling the origin of seafood raw materials.

“6/6 enterprises have organized verification of fishing vessels that do not violate IUU regulations and designated fishing ports before receiving food-safe aquatic products; from the stage of receiving raw materials to finished products in each batch, identification codes and batch separation are performed; full information on domestically exploited, imported, exported raw materials and production records for each batch…”, the inspection team concluded.

To join the whole country in the determination to remove the EC's "yellow card" warning, the Provincial Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing has strengthened coordination, synchronously deployed management solutions, promptly detected, prevented early and from afar, and resolutely prevented fishing vessels from violating foreign waters. Every week, a list of fishing vessels that are not qualified to operate is made, requiring them to anchor in a separate area and not allowing them to leave port; and thoroughly handle fishing vessels that have lost their VMS connection.

In particular, control fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, monitor output and trace the origin of aquatic products; strictly inspect raw materials for processing and export at enterprises...

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/lam-dong-cung-ca-nuoc-quyet-tam-go-the-vang-cua-ec-393935.html