At present, 86.7% of the fishing vessels have been licensed, up 20% from last September. Photo: VIR

The EC has also lauded the country’s openness to the EC's recommendations, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on February 3, as reported by VOV.

At a conference in the central city of Da Nang to make known the outcome of the recent working session with an EC inspection team, the ministry’s Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries said the team described Vietnam’s legal framework as comprehensive and in line with international standards, but the enforcement remains limited and uneven.

In a fact-finding trip to the southcentral coastal province of Khanh Hoa, the EC lauded the close coordination among relevant agencies in IUU combat. It also pointed out problems related to traceability and control of imported seafood in containers, as well as the fact that several Vietnamese vessels were arrested in the territorial waters of neighboring countries.

To fix them, the directorate set the goal of keeping a close watch on fleets of vessels and their legal enforcement, and origin tracing of seafood in line with regulations.

Ministries, agencies and localities were asked to follow the Prime Minister’s directions and build an action plan to fight IUU after being approved by the PM.

At present, 86.7% of the fishing vessels have been licensed, up 20% from last September. Meanwhile, fishing vessels with over 15m in length equipped with voyage monitoring system (VMS) has amounted to 96.35%.

180-day action plan against IUU fishing

Fishing boats anchored in the waters of Phu Quoc island, Kiên Giang province. Photo: VNA

In late 2022, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to build a 180-day action plan to combat IUU fishing, as recommended by the European Commission (EC), and submit it to him and the Government for approval and issuance, according to VietnamPlus.

MARD - the Standing Board of the National Steering Committee on IUU Prevention and Control - was also asked to deploy inter-sectoral inspection teams to coastal localities to examine the implementation of regulations against IUU fishing and give guidelines on the settlements of problems.

The leader requested the Ministry of National Defence to coordinate with other ministries, sectors and localities and coastal localities to end the violations of foreign waters by March 31, 2023.

The Ministry of Public Security was asked to thoroughly settle the organisation of illegal fishing in foreign waters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was directed to conduct the protection of fishermen and bring them home, and finalise negotiations to complete the demarcation of sea borders between Vietnam and other countries.

Coastal localities were required to strengthen communications to encourage local fishermen to strictly abide by legal regulations on IUU fishing, improve the efficiency of controlling the origin of fisheries products, and increase inspections to ensure that exporting activities of aquatic products do not violate regulations against IUU fishing.

They was also asked to organise local fisheries surveillance forces as per Fisheries Law 2017 and relevant legal regulations./.

Fishermen in Khanh Hoa province prepares for the new year's fishing trip. Photo: VNA

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