From 2022 to present, Quang Nam has not had any fishing vessels violating foreign waters being caught and handled.

After a period of drastic tightening of fishing vessel management, the number of IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) violations has decreased significantly.

Offshore fishing boat of fishermen in Nui Thanh, Quang Nam - Photo: BD

On March 7, the People's Committee of Quang Nam province announced that it had just reported the results of implementing the task of combating illegal fishing at sea.

According to Quang Nam province, From 2022 to now, no fishing vessels from Quang Nam that violated foreign waters have been caught and handled.

However, in 2024, there were four cases of fishing vessels 24 meters or longer violating fishing boundaries at sea.

These incidents were discovered and verified by the authorities. However, the Quang Nam Fisheries Sub-Department was unable to advise superiors to issue a decision on administrative sanctions because the fishing vessel's violations occurred before May 19, 2024.

At that time, Decree 42/2019/ND-CP regulating penalties in the fisheries sector did not have a provision to penalize the act of "fishing vessels crossing the permitted fishing area at sea without written approval".

Particularly, according to Quang Nam province, from the end of April to June 2024, there was a rather rare incident when a fishing boat was recorded crossing the border four times. That was the QNa-91917-TS boat, captain and owner of the boat, Mr. Huynh Van Anh.

After the discovery, the Quang Nam Fisheries Control Office invited Mr. Anh to work.

However, the Fisheries Department did not have enough basis to advise on the penalty. The reason was that Mr. Anh's fishing boat left the port before Decree 42/2019/ND-CP took effect.

The three violations after Decree 42/2019/ND-CP took effect were all due to force majeure such as bad weather; the squid fishing boat drifted freely at sea (the squid fishing boat had no engine) and accidentally crossed the boundary, so the captain let the ship run after it to retrieve it; the time it crossed the boundary was too short, not enough basis to prove that the fishing boat violated illegal fishing.

According to the assessment of the functional sector in Quang Nam, after a period of drastic tightening of fishing vessel management, the number of IUU violations (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing) has decreased significantly.

Quang Nam currently has 2,411 licensed vessels in a total fishing fleet of 2,565. The number of vessels with a length of 12m or more that must be inspected is 1,062.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-nam-2022-den-nay-quang-nam-khong-co-tau-ca-vi-pham-vung-bien-nuoc-ngoai-bi-bat-va-xu-ly-20250307124014811.htm