Fishing vessels in central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has required a crackdown on vessels that lose connect at sea for more than ten days. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has requested coastal cities and provinces report fishing vessels that lose contact with authorities for more than ten days at sea.

The people’s committees of coastal cities and provinces must send their reports to the ministry’s Directorate of Fisheries before November 30.

The ministry said after the European Commission held its inspection in Việt Nam this October, it assessed that local authorities have made great efforts in monitoring, detecting and punishing fishing vessels that cross maritime borders at sea or lose contact for more than ten days at sea.

However, most violations were only given warnings and very few cases received administrative sanctions. In addition, many localities have not handled violations according to regulations.

The Directorate of Fisheries revealed that 853 fishing vessels disconnected their vessel monitoring systems in 2021.

Local authorities in 21 cities and provinces failed to report on 300 of the violating vessels.

This year through October 25, 412 vessels lost contact, and authorities in nine localities did not report 46 violation cases.

In an attempt to remove the yellow card for Việt Nam's seafood industry, the ministry has asked the people's committees of coastal cities and provinces to notify vessels that lose contact at sea for more than ten days via email (giamsattauca.tcts@gmail.com) and report violation cases to the Directorate of Fisheries.

The ministry has also requested localities to fully report the results of violation cases in 2021 and 2022 and send the results to the Directorate of Fisheries before November 30.

Speaking at a meeting with the European Commission delegation on October 28, Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành affirmed that Việt Nam has been making an all-out effort to implement the EC’s recommendations in the best possible manner to develop a sustainable, responsible, and well-controlled seafood industry.

He also reaffirmed the strong commitment and joint efforts of authorities, fishermen, and businesses to prevent, end, and eradicate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Installing vessel monitoring system equipment on fishing boats is one of the decisive solutions to end IUU fishing practices, particularly illegal fishing in foreign waters.

The country has been speeding up the installation of vessel monitoring system equipment and effectively using the equipment to monitor the operations of their fishing fleets at sea closely. — VNS