A fish market in the central province of Nghệ An. Photo baonghean.vn

NGHỆ AN — Border guards in the central coastal province of Nghệ An have strengthened patrols and tightened control over fishing activities at sea.

This is part of efforts to prevent and fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, contributing to persuading the European Commission to remove the “yellow card” against Vietnamese seafood.

Along with increasing sea patrols, officers and soldiers of Cửa Lò-Bến Thủy border post have popularised legal regulations regarding fishing activities among fishermen, ship owners and captains of boats.

They have diversified communications forms, including delivering leaflets, radio broadcasting, and meetings to enhance effectiveness. As a result, fishermen's awareness about IUU issues has been enhanced remarkably. 

Nghệ An currently has 3,469 fishing vessels with total capacity of 654,224 CV, including 1,760 large vessels.

This year, the province aims to complete the installation of vessel monitoring system (VMS) on all vessels, and ensuring all vessels have necessary documents and licences before operating at sea.

At the same time, the movements of vessels in ports have also been monitored, along with the origin of seafood.

Colonel Hồ Quyết Thắng, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Border Guard High Command of Nghệ An said that thanks to the efforts, the number of local fishing boats violating Fisheries Law and IUU fishing prevention and control regulation had reduced considerably.

So far, the border guard force of the province had handled 69 violation cases involving 103 vessels, collecting nearly VNĐ730 million (more than US$31,000) in fines.

Colonel Thắng said that in the future, the force would continue to effectively operate inter-sectoral inspection teams at local fishing ports, while coordinating with relevant agencies to control the origin of aquatic products.

On October 23, 2017, the European Commission (EC) issued a "yellow card" warning to Việt Nam, after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against IUU fishing.

The commission is scheduled to conduct an inspection over IUU fishing in Việt Nam in June 2023. — VNS