Quang Ngai: Fishermen unanimously remove the "yellow card" for IUU fishing

To build a sustainable, responsible fishery that complies with international law and removes the EC's "yellow card", fishermen's awareness of law compliance is considered one of the key factors.

Positive change

With a series of solutions from functional sectors and related units, focusing on propaganda, dissemination of laws, and combating IUU fishing , the awareness of Quang Ngai fishermen in protecting and sustainably exploiting aquatic resources has gradually changed in a positive direction.

Fishermen go offshore to exploit seafood.

Fishermen have a clear understanding of the harmful effects of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, especially violations of foreign waters.

“Only go within Vietnamese waters, not into foreign waters. The ship has full equipment, turns on journey monitoring, and fishes in regulated waters. If you violate, you will face many consequences, if you are caught by foreign countries, you will be fined, and if you return to your country, your license will be confiscated and you will not be allowed to operate…”- Fisherman Nguyen Thanh Linh, owner of the QNg 90929TS ship shared.

In addition, the declaration of the origin of exploited seafood is also strictly implemented by ship owners and captains. Currently, most of the offshore fishing vessels of Quang Ngai fishermen when returning to sell their products, dock at 5 fishing ports designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to sell their products.

Fishermen weigh fish at the port.

“My boat specializes in catching tuna. If we exploit and catch illegally, we cannot export, so we must strictly comply with the regulations. I also hope that fishermen will comply well and not exploit illegally so that the “yellow card” can be removed soon. Then people’s lives will be improved,” said fisherman Dinh Van Bay (captain of fishing boat QNg 98240 TS).

Every day, at the fishing ports, there are staff from the Management Board on duty to check the documents of offshore fishing boat owners who come to port to sell their products. Fishing boats must comply with the new regulations for loading and unloading fish.

“When checking the monitoring device, if the ship violates the regulations, it will not be allowed to enter the port. Ships that comply with the regulations on fishing in the right area and on the right route will be allowed to load and unload goods. The procedures and paperwork are done quickly. We also remind people to keep a diary with accurate longitude and latitude,” said Mr. Luong Thai Tan, an employee of Tinh Ky Fishing Port Management Board (Quang Ngai City).

Propaganda is a continuous task

With the determination to remove the IUU “yellow card” warning, since 2019, the People’s Committee of Quang Ngai province has established a Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing. In addition to the close direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Committee also issued a plan to implement tasks and solutions to combat IUU fishing each year as well as in the period 2023-2025.

One of the key tasks that this province has focused on implementing quite effectively and substantially is to strictly control fishing vessels and strictly handle ship owners and captains who violate the fight against IUU fishing.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Lam Van Vien - Head of Sa Ky Port Border Guard Station, when a vehicle enters, the border control station will be responsible for notifying the port management board to monitor whether the vehicle enters the port to weigh fish or not.

If the ship does not enter the port to weigh the fish, the border guards and the port management board will coordinate to propagate against IUU fishing to fishermen. Propaganda work is considered a continuous and never-ending task.

Propaganda work is considered a continuous task with no stopping point.

“In addition to propaganda at conferences of departments, branches, sectors and functional forces, we also mobilize fishermen who have violated foreign waters to participate in sharing their mistakes and lessons learned. From there, we contribute to raising the awareness of fishermen in the process of working at sea as well as seeing the consequences of violating regulations against IUU fishing” - Lieutenant Colonel Vien said.

Currently, all 4,233 fishing vessels of Quang Ngai province have been updated in the National Fisheries Database. Fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more are closely monitored through the fisheries monitoring system, clearly understanding and strictly handling each case of violation of regulations on loss of connection to monitoring the journey on fishing vessels.

Fishing boats of Quang Ngai fishermen have all been updated in the National Fisheries Database.

It is expected that in June this year, the EC inspection team will visit Vietnam for the 5th time. Together with coastal provinces and cities, Quang Ngai province has had many synchronous solutions to remove the EC's "yellow card" on Vietnamese seafood.

“Up to now, Quang Ngai has basically controlled and prevented fishing vessels and fishermen from illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters. The management of fishing vessels is increasingly strict, the number of fishing vessels is gradually decreasing in the direction of reducing fishing force to develop a sustainable fishing industry” - Vice Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee Tran Phuoc Hien said:

Ha Phuong

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