Prime Minister: Combating IUU fishing must go hand in hand with sustainable fisheries development.

On the evening of December 9, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the 25th meeting of the National Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing.

According to reports and opinions at the meeting, over the past two months, the Government, the Prime Minister , along with ministries, branches and coastal localities, have been very determined and focused on implementing the peak month against IUU fishing with the goal of "Resolutely declaring war on IUU fishing, determined to remove the EC's "yellow card" on Vietnam's fisheries sector by 2025.

Last week, members of the Steering Committee, ministries and branches continued to organize inter-sectoral working groups to inspect and combat IUU fishing in localities; completed the digitization of the entire database system for managing fishing vessel activities, connecting, integrating, multi-purpose and meeting the criteria of "correct, sufficient, clean, alive".

The databases for managing fishing vessel information; monitoring and controlling fishing vessel activities at sea through voyage monitoring devices (VMS) have regulations for exploiting, using and operating data; relevant agencies, organizations and individuals are only granted user accounts according to regulations.

The Prime Minister chaired the 25th session of the National Steering Committee on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Photo: VGP.

The authorities strictly control fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; ensure that fishing vessels that do not meet the requirements are not allowed to participate in activities; implement the Regulation on coordination between the authorities to inspect and control fishing vessel activities; monitor the output of aquatic products unloaded through ports according to regulations; continue to issue policies on job conversion, dismantling and liquidating fishing vessels.

In the past week, the tasks were basically completed with positive results. The management of fishing vessels and monitoring of fishing activities continued to be strictly maintained, especially for fishing vessels that were not qualified to operate. 100% of fishing vessels (79,360 fishing vessels) were registered and updated on the national fisheries database Vnfishbase.

During the week, no fishing vessels violating foreign waters were arrested or processed. The situation of handling violations of the law in IUU fishing continued to have positive changes. Up to now, the handling of violations of VMS connection loss and exceeding the permitted fishing boundary has been basically completed. Information and communication work on efforts to combat IUU fishing has been especially promoted.

Important political tasks

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the need to uphold a high sense of responsibility, high determination, great efforts, decisive action, and complete each task in this work.

The Prime Minister clearly stated the dual goals: The number one goal is to end illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and remove the IUU yellow card; at the same time, it is necessary to restructure and develop the fisheries industry legally, sustainably, and legitimately, restructure the fleet, restructure the workforce towards legal fishing and increase aquaculture and seafood processing, create jobs, livelihoods, improve people's material and spiritual lives, exploit the unique potential, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages of Vietnam's seas, and strengthen fisheries cooperation with other countries.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha speaks at the session. Photo: VGP.

The Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to continue to concentrate maximum resources on implementing the directions of the Secretariat, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers; based on their functions, tasks and powers, review the contents warned and recommended by the EC to deploy work to achieve the above goals.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment guides and, based on the reports of localities, synthesizes and builds a joint report to ensure accuracy, completeness, updates, comprehensiveness, and overallness, meeting the requirements of the EC, clearly indicating which contents have been implemented well, need to be maintained and promoted, which contents have not been done well, difficulties, limitations, and tasks and solutions for the future. On that basis, directly and sincerely exchange with the EC to unify information and data between the two sides, in order to have a comprehensive, comprehensive, and accurate view of the situation of combating IUU fishing in Vietnam.

Emphasizing that this is an important political task at present, which must be completed thoroughly to ensure the prestige, honor, and interests of the country, nation, and people, and for the benefit of the people, the Prime Minister requested that localities mobilize the entire political system, with the leadership role of Party committees and management of local authorities at provincial and grassroots levels, mobilizing the participation of people and associations, especially in controlling the origin of goods.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment continues to organize inter-sectoral working groups to inspect and combat IUU fishing in localities; direct, urge, and guide localities to handle cases of fishing vessels violating IUU fishing, losing VMS connection, exceeding permitted fishing boundaries at sea, and violating foreign waters that arise in reality. The Prime Minister stated that if any locality fails to grasp the situation during the inspection, it must handle individual and collective responsibilities; places that do well must be commended and rewarded, according to Party regulations and State laws.

The Prime Minister assigns tasks to ministries, departments, and localities. Photo: VGP.

Regarding specific tasks, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of National Defense to continue patrolling and controlling the waters bordering Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.; control fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, strictly handle fishing vessels that do not meet the conditions for participating in activities; guide ship owners and captains to carry out procedures for declaring fishing vessels and fishermen entering and leaving ports on VNeID.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is urgently working with countries to unify information on Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen arrested from 2024 to present with unknown information. Provide a list of fishing vessels and fishermen arrested by foreign countries and returned to Vietnam from 2024 to present to thoroughly handle outstanding cases and brokerage lines that send fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit abroad.

The Ministry of Public Security, based on information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, directs local police to thoroughly handle cases of fishing vessels and fishermen being arrested by foreign countries and brokerage lines that send fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit abroad. Directs Khanh Hoa Provincial Police and localities (Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Ho Chi Minh City...) to urgently investigate and thoroughly handle organizations and individuals violating the law related to the shipments of swordfish of T&H Nha Trang Company Limited and Thinh Hung Company Limited exported to the European market in 2021 - 2022, which occurred in Khanh Hoa province.

Chairmen of People's Committees of coastal provinces and cities with fishing vessels shall continue to strictly implement regulations on registration, issuance of fishing licenses, control of fishing vessels that do not meet operating conditions; inspect and monitor fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, entering and leaving ports, and the volume of aquatic products loaded and unloaded through ports (including private fishing ports) in accordance with the law. Allocate resources to synchronously implement the eCDT system at all fishing ports and fish landing points in the locality; guide ship owners and captains to carry out procedures for declaring fishing vessels and fishermen entering and leaving ports on VNeID and electronic fishing logbooks (e-logbooks).

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien reports at the meeting. Photo: VGP.

Promptly and decisively handle any incidents involving VMS disconnection or exceeding permitted fishing boundaries at sea; especially resolutely prevent and stop local fishing vessels and fishermen from engaging in illegal fishing in foreign waters. Update complete and timely data to specialized fisheries databases (VNFishbase, administrative violation processing in the fisheries sector, eCDT...), ensuring that the data is "accurate, complete, clean, and active," and that it is interconnected.

Review, arrange and store records on management of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, trace the origin of exploited aquatic products, handle administrative violations; ensure data matching with relevant local authorities and functional forces and on specialized fisheries databases.

The provinces of An Giang and Dak Lak are urgently and decisively handling the cases of fishing vessels and fishermen detained by foreign countries for which information is available; especially regarding the owners and captains who have fled their residences.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/thu-tuong-chong-khai-thac-iuu-song-hanh-voi-phat-trien-nghe-ca-ben-vung-d788564.html