Quảng Ninh makes progress to remove EC fishing “yellow card”

Fishing ships in Quảng Ninh. —Photo nongnghiep.vn

QUẢNG NINH — The northern coastal province of Quảng Ninh has made significant progress in accomplishing recommendations made by the European Commission (EC) on Vietnamese seafood as part of its efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, five of the EC’s seven recommendations for Quảng Ninh have been met. They include controlling the port entry and exit of fishing vessels, strengthening management and improvement of the registration and licensing system for fishing, installing boat tracking devices, ensuring food safety on fishing boats, and punishing violators of IUU fishing rules.

Over 3,850 ships in Quảng Ninh have registered with the national fishing vessel database. There have been no reports on illegal encroachment of foreign waters. All 210 offshore fishing boats, more than 15m in length, have tracking devices and own a fishing licence and a food safety certification.

The province will have all fishing vessels granted licences by the end of 2022.

It has established 10 temporary ship monitoring stations to monitor the port entry and exit of the fishing ships and fish unloading activities.

In 2017, the EC issued the “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood exports to its market because of insufficient efforts to meet the EC’s regulations to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing.

Since the “yellow card” issuance, Việt Nam has been working hard to comply with the requirements stipulated by the EC. — VNS