More than 600 participants join the 19th regular session of the Western and Central Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Đà Nẵng. VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — Efforts have been made by the Government to boost sustainable fishing, conservation of marine resources and tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries, Trần Đình Luân made the statement at the 19th regular session of the Western and Central Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Đà Nẵng on November 28.

Luân said although it was not yet an official member of the WCPFC, Việt Nam had been cooperating with official members and non-member countries as well as seven participating territories in the implementation of regulations and terms of the WCPFC for the conservation and management of migratory fish stocks in the region.

“Joining projects of the WCPFC, Việt Nam had received technical support and advanced technology in fishing and storage of tuna and swordfish as well as information on fishery resources,” Luân said.

“Việt Nam has more opportunities in approaching data shared by the WCPFC on monitoring and management solutions on average catch levels over the period, and tools on assessment of annual harvest output for sustainable targets,” he added.

“We have been attending all meetings and conferences of WCPFC since 2009 to report and explain our responsibility and commitments on fishing.”

Luân also explained that the Government had approved an action plan to prevent, minimise and eliminate IUU fishing by 2025. 

Việt Nam has a fleet of more than 91,716 fishing boats and an annual output of 8.2 million tonnes with total revenue of US$9.4 billion.

About 95 per cent have vessel monitoring systems (VMS) installed, and 80,000 vessels have been inspected.

Local workers collect fish for storage at Thọ Quang fishing port in Đà Nẵng. Việt Nam is strongly committed to follow regulations on sustainable fishing activities. VNS Photo Công Thành

Jung-re Riley Kim, who chaired the meeting, said the annual event aimed to review activities and measures as well as plans for 2023.

Several issues were discussed at the meeting including management for skipjack and South Pacific albacore, harvest strategy, and indicative plans on compliance monitoring as well as the next steps for a new or revised tropical tuna measure.

The meeting also focused on revisions to the conservation and management measures for sharks; strengthening and revising transhipment in 2023; and proposed amendments to daily catch reporting.

Executive director of WCPFC, Feleti Teo, highly appreciated the efforts of the Vietnamese Government.

He also pointed out the impact of COVID-19 on the activities of WCPFC, raising concerns about the new normal in the post-pandemic period and looking at the way forward.

Nguyễn Thị Vi Thoa, who is in charge of quality management of Hạ Long canned food joint-stock corporation, said the company had been closely cooperating with fishing boat owners in monitoring.

“We required all 100 fishing boats to submit clear sea journey diaries and fishing ground coordinates before their fish are processed for export. Our company often collects 500,000 fish and seafood from the fleet annually,” Thoa said.

“EU, the US and Australia are our major export markets, and these importers asked for legal reports on fishing activities and legal procedures on marine resources such as supervision of exports with the Certificate of Origin of Việt Nam,” she said.

Hoa also said her company alone exported seafood worth $20 million to Europe, the US, Australia and other markets annually. — VNS