Mock Trial Raises Awareness on IUU Fishing for Lam Dong Fishermen
	Combating IUU Fishing: Sustainable Path for Ha Tinh Province’s Fishery Sector

Implementing Official Dispatch No. 03/CD-TTg dated January 13, 2026 of the Prime Minister on intensifying efforts against IUU fishing; Document No. 303-CV/TU dated January 16, 2026 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee assigning implementation of the Prime Minister’s dispatch; directives of the Party Committee of the Provincial People’s Committee; and proposals from the Department of Agriculture and Environment in Document No. 400/SNNMT-TS dated January 20, 2026, the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee requires departments, agencies, and People’s Committees of communes and wards with fishing vessels to seriously carry out the following tasks:

Ha Tinh tightens fight against illegal fishing, aims to lift IUU yellow card (Photo: hatinh.gov.vn)

Directors and heads of departments and agencies, and chairs of People’s Committees of communes and wards with fishing vessels continue to focus on strictly implementing the leadership and directives of the Provincial Party Standing Committee under Plans No. 278-KH/TU dated July 17, 2024 on implementing Directive No. 32-CT/TW dated April 10, 2024 of the Secretariat on strengthening Party leadership in combating IUU fishing and developing a sustainable fisheries sector; Plan No. 23-KH/TU dated December 26, 2025 on communication for combating IUU fishing in the 2025–2030 period; Document No. 02-CV/TU dated October 3, 2025 on continuing leadership and direction in combating IUU fishing; Official Dispatch No. 48/CD-UBND dated October 28, 2025 of the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Plan No. 1216/KH-BCD IUU dated October 28, 2025 of the provincial IUU Steering Committee on implementing Decision No. 2310/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister; and other directives of the Provincial People’s Committee.

Identifying and combating IUU fishing and removing the “yellow card” warning as an especially important and urgent task requiring the highest political determination and synchronized, decisive action from the provincial to grassroots levels; prioritize resources for functional agencies to effectively perform assigned duties. Absolutely avoid complacency; strictly handle organizations and individuals failing to fulfill assigned responsibilities, violating legal regulations, and affecting the country’s overall efforts to remove the “yellow card.” Firmly direct and resolutely “declare war” on IUU violations; devote maximum time and resources to urgent key tasks to lift the warning. Be accountable to the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee for results in combating IUU fishing within their agencies and localities.

Department of Agriculture and Environment takes the lead in advising the Provincial People’s Committee to issue a plan to implement tasks and solutions to combat IUU fishing and remove the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning in Ha Tinh province in 2026. Complete before January 31, 2026.

Lead and coordinate with relevant agencies to develop a project on sustainable fisheries development in the province for submission to the Provincial People’s Committee for approval. Report implementation content to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment before January 25, 2026.

Allocate resources to effectively deploy systems such as eCDT and electronic logbooks (e-logbook), ensuring timely, complete, and compliant sectoral data updates; review export shipments to the EU by enterprises in the province as directed.

Review and adjust solutions for statistics and reconciliation of fishing vessel departures and arrivals (port entry/exit), ensuring consistent data among forces, control stages, and related data systems.

Provincial Military Command (Border Guard Command) reviews all completed administrative violation case files to ensure they have sufficient legal grounds and comply with procedures; strictly reject formalistic closure of files, failure to impose penalties, or improper sanctions. If any closed files lack sufficient basis, promptly reprocess them in accordance with the law and consider responsibilities of related organizations and individuals, especially leaders; absolutely do not report “100% handled” when cases are not fully resolved.

Direct border guard stations to strictly control fishing vessels entering and exiting through border posts, ensuring consistency with port entry/exit data; strengthen communication and guidance for captains and vessel owners to comply with eCDT systems.

Enhance inspection and control at estuaries and coastal landing areas; strictly handle vessels with improper registration markings, insufficient documentation; do not allow departure for vessels that have not completed verification and handling of VMS disconnection or fail to meet regulatory conditions.

Provincial Police uses VNeID data managed by the Ministry of Public Security to support inspection, review, and residence management, promptly grasping citizens’ situations; in cases where citizens lose contact or go to sea for fishing and have not returned, proactively verify and fully update identification, management location, and related status, ensuring families and local authorities are informed, avoiding situations of missing information or unidentified identity and management location.

Department of Justice continues coordinating with the Provincial Inspectorate, Border Guard Command, Provincial Police, Department of Agriculture and Environment, and related agencies to inspect and completely handle administrative violation cases; conduct a comprehensive review of all closed files to ensure proper, sufficient, and procedural closure. Absolutely prevent improper handling, lack of penalties, or insufficient grounds for closing files.

Department of Science and Technology continues coordinating to inspect the quality assurance of VMS equipment; implement regulations on satellite mobile telecommunications services used for fishing vessel monitoring provided by service and equipment providers; ensure stable operation of VMS subscriptions, no satellite errors, and continuous system connectivity for all devices.

Provincial Newspaper and Radio-Television further strengthen communication and dissemination of laws (the 2017 Fisheries Law and guiding documents, regulations on IUU fishing management, and international and regional regulations on combating IUU fishing). Focus on communicating sanctions (administrative, civil, economic, criminal) for IUU violations and publicizing handled cases to enhance education and deterrence.

People’s Committees of communes and wards with fishing vessels regularly reconcile data for each fishing vessel (owner, citizen ID number, address, phone number).

Ensure that 100% of registered fishing vessels and aquaculture service vessels display registration numbers and markings in accordance with Circular No. 02/2026/TT-BNNMT dated January 1, 2026 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

Be responsible for reviewing and managing vessels not eligible for operation; arrange centralized management/anchorage points and strengthen monitoring using technology (such as cameras and appropriate surveillance means), clearly identifying vessel locations and responsible managers, avoiding scattered vessels that are difficult to control and pose high risks.

Assign the Department of Agriculture and Environment (standing body of the provincial IUU Steering Committee) to inspect, urge implementation, consolidate, and report results of this dispatch to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Provincial People’s Committee, and the head of the provincial IUU Steering Committee.

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