Fishing ships in Kiên Giang Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

KIÊN GIANG — The two southern provinces of Kiên Giang and Cà Mau are joining hands to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their waters.

This move is expected to help develop responsible fisheries, and effectively and sustainably exploit aquatic resources on fishing grounds, in an effort to have the European Commission's warnings against IUU fishing removed in the two localities.

Accordingly, Kiên Giang and Cà Mau have jointly organised patrols and inspections to detect fishing vessels engaging in illegal fishing, especially in foreign waters, those using electric pulse and explosives to catch aquatic products, those operating in the wrong areas, and those that have not installed monitoring devices or have installed but later disabled them.

In addition, they have stepped up dissemination of the law to raise the awareness of ship owners and fishermen on IUU fishing rules, and strictly punished those in violation.

Border guards of the two provinces are inspecting vessels at border checkpoints, and are resolutely not allowing those that lack procedures, papers and equipment as prescribed to go out to sea.

According to the steering committee on IUU fishing prevention of Kiên Giang Province, after two years of coordination, the two provinces organised patrols and inspected more than 100 fishing vessels in their waters, made records of 41 administrative violations, and discovered 47 vessel monitoring devices that were removed and sent to other vehicles or left onshore or on islands.

Through inspections, authorities have issued administrative violations of more than VNĐ7.8 billion (US$333,400). — VNS