As one of 28 coastal localities in the country, Quang Ninh always identifies the importance of combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing), considering the removal of the European Commission's "yellow card" as a key political task. The province has strengthened leadership and direction; increased inspection and supervision; stepped up propaganda and education for people; promoted production and business development, creating livelihoods for people; promoted aquaculture to limit fishing. After many inspections, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has assessed that the results of combating IUU fishing in the locality have changed a lot.
Resolutely fight against IUU fishing
On September 1, 2017, the Standing Committee of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee issued Directive No. 18-CT/TU on strengthening the management, exploitation, protection and development of aquatic resources in Quang Ninh province. Through appropriate solutions in implementing Directive 18, the awareness and responsibility of departments, branches, sectors and authorities at all levels in the province regarding the management, exploitation and protection of aquatic resources have changed significantly; the awareness of people, especially fishermen, towards the protection of aquatic resources has been significantly improved. In particular, on December 30, 2020, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 227/KH-UBND on implementing the management of exploitation, protection and development of aquatic resources and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in conjunction with the implementation of Directive No. 18-CT/TU dated September 1, 2017 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee.
In addition to the documents and regulations of the Central Government, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have proactively issued and implemented over 13 documents regulating the management, assignment, decentralization, handling of evidence of violations, protection of resources, establishment of inspection points, control of fishing vessels, exploited aquatic product output, etc. The province also continues to research, integrate, amend and supplement regulations and decisions related to exploitation and protection of aquatic resources in accordance with the practical situation of the province and relevant legal provisions and promulgate policies to support career conversion, and support the installation of voyage monitoring equipment on fishing vessels.
Following the direction of the Central Government and the opinions of the National Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing, in recent times, the province has resolutely directed the implementation of many measures and solutions to manage and control fishing vessels and exploited aquatic products, such as: Completing registration, inspection, granting fishing licenses, granting certificates, food safety commitments, updating data on Vnfishbase; launching peak patrols, handling, seizing, and banning all fishing vessels from circulation.
In which, the heads of Party committees and authorities at district and commune levels are responsible for the results of implementing solutions to combat IUU fishing; developing a plan to combat IUU fishing in 2024. In particular, the province has directed the development and promulgation of legal framework regulations and procedures for registering "3 no" vessels.
By July 26, 2024, Quang Ninh province has 5,556 fishing vessels, of which: Fishing vessels with the largest length under 6m counted and managed by the commune level are 1,309 vessels, accounting for 23.56% of the total number of vessels; Fishing vessels with the longest length from 6m to under 12m managed by the district level are 3,517 vessels, accounting for 63.3% of the total number of vessels (2,094 vessels have been registered, of which 1,423 vessels are temporarily registered; the licensing rate is 96% (3,376/3,517 vessels). At the provincial level alone, fishing vessels from 12m and above managed by the province are 730 vessels, specifically: Vessels from 12m to under 15m are 472 vessels, accounting for 8.5% of the total number of vessels (officially registered, signed a food safety commitment, marked, and painted with registration numbers 467/472 vessels, reaching 98.94%, 5 vessels are completing documents for registration;) Vessels from 15m and above are 258 vessels, accounting for 4.64% of the total number of vessels (registered, granted food safety certificates, marked, and painted with registration numbers (The official registration number of 258/258 ships has not been drawn yet.) Up to now, no fishing vessels of the province have been arrested or handled for violating foreign waters.
Regarding the installation of voyage monitoring equipment (VMS), by June 30, 2024, the whole province had 256/256 fishing vessels of 15m or more, reaching 100%. Every day, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development extracts information on fishing vessels losing VMS connection signal offshore, notifies relevant units and guides and supports fishing vessel owners to fix the loss of VMS connection signal. Many fishing vessels after being notified, instructed and supported have fixed the connection signal again). Along with that, every week the Department compiles a list of fishing vessels at high risk of IUU violations and losing connection offshore for more than 10 days and sends it to the Provincial Border Guard Command, Provincial Police, local People's Committees in the province and coastal provinces/cities for grasping, coordinating, inspecting, verifying and handling according to regulations. In the first 6 months of the year, the units have verified the status and location of 12/12 cases of fishing vessels that lost connection for a long time at sea. The reason is that 12/12 vessels were on shore, not engaged in fishing activities or were being repaired at the workshop, so the VMS device was turned off.
Quang Ninh also did a good job of controlling fishing vessels and seafood output entering and leaving ports. In the first 6 months of 2024, the whole province declared and controlled 31,833.4/38,820.2 tons of exploited seafood, reaching 82.0%. Of which: Controlled at the Office of Fisheries Inspection, Examination and Control at Cai Rong Port was 112.1 tons; the rest were declared and controlled at 6 inspection and control points of localities and declared by Dong Trieu Town; compared to the same period in 2023, the output control rate increased by 70.1% (the control rate in the same period in 2023 was 11.9%).
Comrade Nguyen Minh Son, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: In the past time, the assigned agencies have proactively advised the Provincial People's Committee on documents directing and implementing Directive No. 18 in conjunction with combating IUU fishing, proactively and actively performing the task effectively. In particular, strengthening propaganda and dissemination of laws on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources, combating IUU fishing to raise awareness and sense of law compliance of fishermen, limiting violations. The management of fishing vessels is increasingly strict, the existing problems are gradually overcome; there are no fishing vessels or fishermen illegally exploiting seafood abroad. The work of controlling and tracing the origin of aquatic products has been gradually implemented, the control results are increasingly high, reaching 108.4% (exceeding the exploited output is due to fishing vessels from other provinces declaring output in the province). In particular, the activities of protecting, regenerating and developing aquatic resources have become a movement among the people. Violations of exploitation and protection of natural resources and environment have been promptly detected and handled for general deterrence and propaganda. The licensing and monitoring rate on the VNFISBASE system reached 95.9% (licensing 4,072/4,247 fishing vessels subject to licensing); offshore fishing vessels (15m or more) installed with a voyage monitoring system (VMS) and granted food safety certificates reached 100%...
Developing sustainable and responsible fisheries
The IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) Fishing Regulation was adopted by the European Commission (EC) in 2008 and came into effect in January 2010. The objective of this regulation is to establish a European (EU)-wide system to prevent and eliminate the import of IUU-fished fishery products into the EU market. According to the EC, IUU is fishing activities by vessels without permission or with permission but in violation of fishing regulations, with the aim of generating greater profits than fishing in accordance with regulations on sustainable fishing. IUU fishing is the biggest threat to the maintenance and conservation of fishery resources and marine biodiversity, causing serious environmental and socio -economic impacts worldwide.
In order to protect aquatic resources for sustainable aquaculture development, and at the same time promote the removal of the EU's "yellow card", Quang Ninh is currently further promoting propaganda work for all fishermen as well as officials at all levels about the importance of protecting aquatic resources and combating illegal fishing (IUU) for the long-term livelihoods as well as the lives and incomes of fishermen; considering this a task arising from an urgent need arising from within, not just a task to remove the EU's "yellow card" warning.
In particular, implementing Decision 389 dated April 9, 2024 of the Prime Minister on "Approval of the planning for protection and exploitation of aquatic resources for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050", Quang Ninh focuses on the consistent idea of the planning: Reducing exploitation, increasing marine aquaculture and conserving marine resources. In particular, the province has a plan to reorganize aquatic exploitation. Specifically, restructuring the fishing fleet in the direction of rapidly and sustainably reducing the fishing fleet operating in coastal areas, reasonably developing and modernizing the fleet in the open sea and offshore areas to ensure reasonable exploitation of aquatic resources and the ability to self-recover aquatic resources. Implement a reduction from 5,556 fishing vessels to 5,200 by 2025 and to below 4,000 by 2030 (reduce about 2,000 fishing vessels operating in coastal waters, vessels engaged in prohibited fishing, fishing vessels converted to aquaculture) reducing by over 33%. Modernize and improve the efficiency of the offshore fishing fleet.
The province also organizes a review and prioritization of ship groups and occupations that need to be converted within the local fishing industry and converted to marine aquaculture with appropriate solutions and models for job conversion. At the same time, it develops a plan for training and providing skills and expertise for the workforce that needs to convert their occupations and has appropriate incentive mechanisms and policies for people to voluntarily participate.
In addition, Quang Ninh has also stipulated 02 prohibited areas for fishing: The World Heritage Area located in the center of Ha Long Bay; with an area of 434 km2, with determined coordinates: 20043'24" to 20056'12" North latitude; 106059'24" to 107020'30" East longitude; Strictly protected area and ecological restoration area in Bai Tu Long National Park, in which the strictly protected area has an area of 1,090 hectares to protect the coral reef ecosystem, seagrass beds, mangrove forests, turtle nesting grounds... At the same time, in addition to the occupations that the Central Government has not yet banned, Quang Ninh province has implemented the ban on a number of occupations under its authority such as: Prohibiting the dredging profession to exploit mollusks (clams, oysters...) using fishing boats operating in coastal waters; banning the fishing net profession (also known as folding cages, octagonal cages) for fishing in coastal waters, natural waters of river mouths and inland waters (except for exploitation in lagoons or ponds); banning diving in all forms to exploit natural aquatic products in coastal waters and offshore waters; banning bottom fishing and trawling in coastal waters, estuaries and inland waters; banning the development of shrimp trawling using fishing vessels with a total main engine capacity of less than 50 CV. In addition, the province also stipulates areas where fishing is prohibited for a limited period: Co To archipelago is prohibited from April 1 to June 30 every year and natural sandworm beaches in the province are prohibited from June 1 to July 30 every year.
Inefficient fishing activities in coastal areas are gradually being shifted and restructured. In particular, those that destroy resources and affect the environment are banned, such as trawling combined with electric pulses, diving, chemicals, te xiep, octagonal cages, and beach nets; some types of banned fishing have been thoroughly handled, such as: Diving using cyanide and beach nets no longer exist in the sea; other occupations have been sharply reduced, such as bottom-dwelling, trawling combined with electric pulses, te xiep in the sea; ships have switched to aquaculture, and night squid fishing services have the largest number and are the most effective.
In order to thoroughly overcome IUU fishing, the Provincial People's Committee requests the Heads of departments, branches, and Chairmen of the People's Committees of localities to resolutely implement the peak to continue to promote propaganda, dissemination, and thoroughly understand the provisions of the 2017 Fisheries Law, regulations on combating IUU fishing, especially strengthening management and closely monitoring 100% of fishing vessels operating in the province. The Provincial People's Committee also assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to guide the People's Committees of localities and fishing vessel owners to prepare registration dossiers, register, issue fishing licenses, food safety commitments/certifications, draw registration plates, mark fishing vessels and fully update data on the National Fisheries Management System (VNFishbase) for 1,489 fishing vessels in operation, to be completed before August 30, 2024.
In particular, thoroughly handle "3 no" fishing vessels and offshore fishing vessels that frequently lose VMS signals at sea); properly carry out procedures to remove the names of fishing vessels that are not qualified to operate or have transferred their owners to other localities (ensure a clear list and current status of fishing vessels that have been deregistered); control and handle the situation of fishing vessels changing names, changing owners, transferring or buying and selling in accordance with regulations; complete the records of fishing vessel data in the province, ensure that fishing vessel data must match and be consistent between reports from localities and on the national fisheries database (VNFishbase), and be consistent between competent authorities to serve as evidence when working with the EC Inspection Team according to regulations.
The Provincial People's Committee also requested the People's Committees of the following localities: Mong Cai, Hai Ha, Dam Ha, Tien Yen, Van Don, Co To, Cam Pha, Ha Long, Quang Yen, Uong Bi, Dong Trieu to closely follow and grasp the management areas; propagate and mobilize people to comply with the law, have a plan to monitor and strictly manage permanent and temporary ship owners in the area to promptly detect and prevent fishing vessels violating IUU regulations and legal regulations; ensure that all fishing vessels in the area must be registered, granted Fishing Licenses according to regulations and fully updated on VNFishbase.
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