Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee Secretary Mr. Ho Quoc Dung (with a mortar in the middle) checks the signal from fishing boats of fishermen fishing at sea. Picture: V.Đ.T.
As one of the provinces with the largest fishing fleet in the country, Binh Dinh’s biggest problem with the removal of the ‘yellow card’ is that the problem of fishing vessels entering foreign waters still remains.
From 2020 to date, Binh Dinh has detained 34 fishing vessels that violated foreign waters. Specifically, in the first 9 months of 2022, Binh Dinh has 7 more fishing boats violating the law. The functional sector has sanctioned 18 cases amounting to VND16.2 billion and confiscated public funds from 2 fishing vessels.
Another problem is that the system of monitoring equipment for fishing vessels is not stable, many vessels will be disconnected or disconnected while fishing at sea, many vessels crossing the border will be warned by the relevant authorities. The management of the fishing port is still insufficient due to a serious shortage of staff, while every moonlit season fishing boats come ashore to sell products, so they cannot monitor the performance of all ships anchored in the port…
Mr Tran Van Phuc, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Binh Dinh, said that the reason why fishing boats violate IUU is because some fishermen have intentionally sent fishing boats out of personal economic interests to fish illegally in foreign ones waters to fish. Many ship owners do not engage in fishing directly, but hire captains to control their ships and organize their own fishing, so the captains intentionally invade other countries’ waters to illegally exploit seafood for quick profit.
Binh Dinh Provincial Party Committee Secretary Mr. Ho Quoc Dung (2nd from right) inspects fishing boats entering and leaving Quy Nhon Fishing Port. Picture: V.Đ.T.
In particular, all shipowners of fishing vessels that violate foreign waters are required to carry out disembarkation procedures in out-of-province fishing ports, which are concentrated in the south. For many years, they have not brought fishing vessels to their places, so the relevant authorities cannot continue to carry out of fishing activities approach to carry out the propaganda and dissemination of regulations.
Although it is not known whether or not the EC side selected Binh Dinh for the inspection, the Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to focus on implementing specific solutions for before the EC inspection team in Vietnam came to work every situation the EC recommends contributing to the abolition of the seafood ‘yellow card’.
From now until October 10, Binh Dinh functional departments will coordinate with municipalities to review and finalize the issuance of fishing licenses for all fishing boats of fishermen in the province. So far, Binh Dinh has issued fishing licenses to 4,841/5,815 fishing vessels while the remaining 974 vessels have not received a license.
Binh Dinh Agriculture Sector also reviewed all fishing vessel cruise surveillance devices over 15m in length, improved signal monitoring from fishing vessel cruise surveillance devices to accurately determine the sea area where the vessel is fishing and the vessel’s position at anchor, gathering information about fishing vessels operating at sea.
Binh Dinh authorities inspect fishing boats docked in Quy Nhon fishing port. Picture: V.Đ.T.
On the coast, the Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct the management of fishing ports to strengthen the management of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port, and the loading and unloading of seafood accurately to inspect port, monitoring and confirmation of the source original product in the port according to the regulations.
IUU teams inside and outside the province inspect and inspect ships docking and disembarking. Strengthen the information link with the southern provinces where Binh Dinh fishing vessels operate, to coordinate and manage the fleet of “exile” fishing vessels in the fishing ports here well, to quickly and promptly receive development problems.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tuan Thanh, permanent vice chairman of the Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, the provincial leaders have instructed the Binh Dinh Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development along with relevant departments, branches and coastal towns with fishing vessels to focus offshore on very specific priorities focus solutions that make best efforts to overcome the outstanding problems in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
“We have instructed Binh Dinh Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to set up inspection teams to go to places, especially places with many offending fishing boats, such as Cat Minh Township, Cat Tien Town of Phu Cat District, to coordinate and take steps to resolve difficulties to prevent fishing vessels from committing IUU violations. Stepping up propaganda to help fishermen realize that fishing in foreign waters not only harms them and their families, but also harms the country’s economy and image,” said Nguyen Tuan Thanh, permanent vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Dinh province.