Before the final crucial "test"

Six years after Vietnam's fisheries sector received a "yellow card" warning from the European Commission (EC) regarding illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Vietnam has made significant progress, which has been acknowledged and appreciated by the EC. However, there are still four recommendations that the 28 coastal provinces and cities must fulfill before the crucial "assessment" in October.

These include perfecting the legal framework; strengthening the management of fishing vessels; controlling the traceability of harvested seafood; and handling fishing vessels that violate regulations in foreign waters. Besides the first task, which has already been completed, localities are accelerating their efforts, racing against time because if the "yellow card" cannot be lifted this time, Vietnam will have to wait about three more years to receive the next inspection team.

Lesson 1: Monitoring the fleet from shore to the open sea

At the provincial Steering Committee meetings on combating IUU fishing held since the beginning of the year, the question of how to closely monitor the fishing fleet has been a hot topic of discussion among provincial leaders, steering committee members, and relevant departments and agencies. This is also one of the four recommendations warned about by the EC during its fourth inspection. If the fishing fleet cannot be monitored, how can the people and the fishing output be monitored?

Declaring war on ships with "three no's" (no goods, no water, no sewage ...

As one of the provinces with the highest number of "three-no" vessels (no registration, no inspection, and no fishing license) in the country, with over 2,500, this has directly hampered the control and handling of violations in fisheries. However, with many efforts, Binh Thuan has pioneered the completion of temporary registration for a large number of "three-no" vessels and is currently carrying out official registration according to Circular 06/2024/TT-BNNPTNT (Circular 06) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. "The Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts and towns will be held responsible if the emergence of 'three-no' fishing vessels continues after May 6th, and the entire political system is required to concentrate its efforts on a peak period to complete the registration of 'three-no' vessels before September 15th." These were the decisive directives of Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai at the meetings of the Provincial Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing held continuously in recent months.

It is one of the provinces with the highest number of "three-no" vessels (no proper documentation, no permits, and no proper certifications).

Since 2023, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the People's Committees of districts and cities to review, compile statistics, and report on the number of fishing vessels in the province. However, after each review, the number of unregistered and uninspected fishing vessels continues to increase in localities, constantly fluctuating and causing difficulties in managing and monitoring fishing vessel activities, as well as significantly affecting the province's efforts in implementing the EC's recommendations on combating IUU fishing.

After the review, the entire province has 2,531 vessels that lack proper documentation (3 no's, 0.05 ...

Explaining the reasons, Mr. Huynh Quang Huy – Head of the Fisheries Sub-Department – ​​said that the main causes are people leaving the locality to work far away, exploiting seafood outside the province for a long time, resulting in untimely reporting; buying, selling, gifting, or transferring ownership. There are also many cases where some shipbuilding and modification facilities do not have business licenses or the necessary operating conditions, secretly building new ships or buying ships from outside the province to modify them for direct fishing or reselling to others. Therefore, these fishing vessels do not have the necessary documents to declare registration tax according to regulations and do not meet the requirements for fishing vessel registration dossiers as stipulated in Circular 06.

"The chairpersons of the People's Committees of districts and towns will be held responsible if the emergence of 'three-no' fishing vessels continues after May 6th."

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai

Based on the above situation, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct the Fisheries Sub-Department to send the list of "3-no" fishing vessels that have been announced to the People's Committees of districts and communes where fishing vessels are located for monitoring and management. At the same time, they are to organize the registration of newly built, modified, bought, sold, or gifted fishing vessels that have not yet been registered in the province, and to fully update fishing vessel data on the national fisheries database VNFishbase, completing this no later than September 15th. Therefore, for more than two months, the Fisheries Sub-Department has established a working group to go to the grassroots level to coordinate with localities to support fishermen in resolving difficulties and encourage them to carry out registration, inspection, and fisheries license procedures in accordance with regulations. In parallel with reviewing and supporting fishermen in completing registration, the leaders of Binh Thuan province also assigned the Provincial Border Guard Command to direct border guard posts/stations at seaports to inspect and control 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; Strictly handle cases of fishing vessels lacking "three essentials" (no proper documentation, no permits, no proper documentation, no safety certifications ... and no safety certifications) arising from illegal construction or sale.

Inspect and control 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; strictly handle cases of fishing vessels lacking "three essentials" (no permits, no documents, no safety certifications, no proper documentation, no safety certifications ... and no safety certifications resulting from illegal construction or sale.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, with decisive direction from the provincial leadership, the registration and inspection of fishing vessels under Circular 06 is basically on track. To date, temporary registration has been granted to 2,499 out of 2,531 "3-no" fishing vessels (reaching 98.7%), and the number of fishing vessels under Circular 06 that have completed the necessary procedures for re-registration has reached over 60% of the total number of fishing vessels that have been announced.

Thus, by September 15, 2024, more than 2,500 fishing vessels operating without proper documentation (no permits, no licenses, no permits, no registration, no insurance, no insurance) in the province will have legal records for management, helping the locality overcome one of the major obstacles in addressing IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing and making the path to lifting the "yellow card" less arduous.

"Identifying" high-risk vessels

At a recent online conference summarizing the work of the National Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang requested that Binh Thuan province compile a list of fishing vessels at risk of violating foreign waters within two weeks and develop a plan to strictly manage this fleet. If any vessel on this list subsequently violates foreign waters, the provincial People's Committee leaders will be held responsible.

The province's offshore fishing team.

Based on that directive and lessons learned from previous cases of fishing vessels violating foreign waters, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province directed a review, compilation of a list, and specific solutions for managing this group of vessels. With a large fleet of over 8,450 fishing vessels with a length of 6 meters or more, including approximately 1,400 vessels regularly operating in distant waters (the Truong Sa area, DK1, and waters bordering other countries), it is difficult for the locality to manage them, thus posing a high risk of illegal fishing in foreign waters. After the review and screening, the People's Committee of the province classified the vessels into 6 groups with a high risk of violating foreign waters. This identified 173 fishing vessels at risk of violating foreign waters (mostly in Phu Quy with 85 vessels, La Gi town with 48 vessels, Phan Thiet with 18 vessels, and Tuy Phong with 13 vessels...). Further investigation revealed that 86 fishing vessels are under special monitoring and surveillance (12 in Tuy Phong; 13 in Phan Thiet; 2 in Ham Thuan Nam; 22 in La Gi town; 1 in Ham Tan; and 36 in Phu Quy). These vessels will be closely monitored through the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). However, a current problem is that many fishing vessels still lose VMS connectivity, and enforcement remains limited.

The entire province has 86 fishing vessels that are under special monitoring and surveillance.

According to the Fisheries Sub-Department, since the beginning of the year, one fishing vessel has been detected crossing the maritime boundary (and has since returned to Vietnamese waters). In addition, the province has recorded 5,338 instances of 619 vessels losing contact at sea for more than 6 hours without notifying shore, but only one case has been penalized; and 113 instances of 113 fishing vessels losing contact at sea for more than 10 days, but only 14 cases have been penalized. Explaining the reason why vessels losing VMS connection cannot yet be processed using the "remote penalty" mechanism, Mr. Le Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Fisheries Sub-Department, said that there are currently overlapping decrees and a lack of specific guidance, causing confusion among localities and a lack of basis for "remote penalties" on violating fishing vessels through the monitoring system. Besides the poor quality of many VMS devices and the untimely maintenance and repair, determining whether a malfunction is due to a faulty device or user error is also a significant challenge.

Authorities conduct administrative inspections of fishing vessels in operation.

Regarding this issue, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai requested the Department of Agriculture to coordinate with the Border Guard, the Department of Justice, and other relevant agencies to assess whether the handling and penalties under the "cold penalty" mechanism meet the legal requirements. If so, it needs to be implemented seriously. In particular, for fishing vessels that lose VMS connectivity, the Fishing Vessel Monitoring Center needs to provide clear conclusions for each case, identifying the cause of the violation to ensure thorough handling and avoid blaming the network provider, signal loss, or running out of credit.

MINH VAN, PHOTO: N. LAN

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/chong-khai-thac-iuu-truc-dot-sat-hach-quan-trong-cuoi-cung-123423.html