Deputy PM urges tightening vessel control to combat IUU fishing

Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang speaks during a meeting with the Fishing Vessel Monitoring Data Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on implementing solutions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Sinh

HÀ NỘI — To have the European Commission (EC)’s “yellow card” removed for Vietnamese seafood, relevant agencies and localities must handle vessels with disconnected vessel monitoring systems (VMS), Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang said on Wednesday.

In his remarks at a meeting with the centre for monitoring fishing vessels under the Directorate of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Deputy PM Quang requested measures to detect and strictly handle such violating vessels before the EC’s inspection team comes to Việt Nam to examine its efforts against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

He assigned the MARD to coordinate with other ministries, sectors, and units in addressing technical issues, provide technical guidance to localities, and exchange relevant data and information with the Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Information and Communications was asked to ensure that units and enterprises do not stop satellite-based connectivity with fishing vessels, while coordinating with the MARD to address technical issues.

The Ministry of Public Security is responsible for issuing a directive for the police of provinces and cities nationwide to address connection loss issues in accordance with Resolution 04/2024/NQ-HĐTP of the council of judges of the Supreme People’s Court.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence was demanded to direct border guards to closely monitor fishing vessels departing and arriving at ports.

From now until the EC team’s visit, the Government will send task forces to inspect measures against IUU fishing, the Deputy PM said.

According to General Director of the Directorate of Fisheries Trần Đình Luân, up to 98.43 percent of fishing vessels have been equipped with the VMS devices. Localities have basically located the ships with disconnected systems. — VNS