Phan Thiết fish market, Bình Thuận Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thanh

HÀ NỘI — The Directorate of Fisheries (DoF) is striving to complete institutions for sustainable and responsible fishery management in the fourth quarter of 2021, and quickly address the European Commission (EC)’s recommendations related to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The information was unveiled by DoF Deputy General Director Nguyễn Quang Hùng on the sidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s online conference with coastal localities on Friday.

Hùng said that the EC assessed that Việt Nam was on the right track and seeing positive results in the fight against IUU fishing.

According to the official, the EC is likely not to impose a "red card" but will maintain its "yellow card" warning until there are no Vietnamese fishing vessels violating foreign waters and overcome the EC’s four groups of recommendations.

According to the Directorate of Fisheries localities have actively installed vessel monitoring devices on fishing vessels and marked them in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries Law.

Up to now, 27,716 vessels, or 90.5 per cent of the targeted boats, have installed vessel monitoring systems (VMS), and 90.53 per cent of fishing vessels have been marked. Quảng Ninh, Quảng Tri and Trà Vinh provinces have less than 75 per cent of their fishing vessels installing these devices.

Authorised forces from central to local levels have implemented many measures to prevent and stop Vietnamese fishing vessels from violating foreign waters. The situation tends to decrease gradually, but still exists. Cà Mau, Bình Định, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, Bến Tre, and Kiên Giang provinces have still seen fishing vessels violating the regulations.

Administrative sanctions against violations related to IUU fishing have led to positive changes in some localities. However, the sanctions are not really strict and inconsistent among localities, and the rate of penalties imposed on violations in foreign waters are still low.  — VNS