Fishing boats in Ninh Thuận Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Công Thử

NINH THUẬN — Ninh Thuận province is tightening measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Lê Huyền, deputy chairman of its People’s Committee, said the south-central province plans to intensely advocate against IUU fishing through mass media from now through May.

The advocacy focuses on educating fishermen about legal provisions, especially for IUU fishing prevention, he said.

The province would make public its efforts to fight IUU fishing in the past and their outcomes, which would help enhance awareness and responsibility among officials and the public, especially fishing boat owners and fishermen, he said.

It plans to check and register all fishing boats, and install a vessel monitoring system (VMS) this month on boats 15 metres or longer.

It also aims to add the registration data to the national fisheries database this month.

It is strengthening the inspection of fishing boats to ensure their VMS is always turned on during fishing trips.

The province Fisheries Sub-department is monitoring boats operating at sea through their VMS.

At ports, the Fishing Port Management Board is closely tracing the origin of catches as required by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure seafood exports to the EU and certain other markets comply with traceability norms.

The board is also checking the catches on boats from other provinces and cities that dock in the province to certify them.

Authorities are making intensive inspections and cracking down on violators, especially failure to install or turn on VMS when fishing offshore and intrusion into foreign waters.

They have organised training courses for more than 6,000 officials and fishermen fishing-related laws, and got boat owners to sign a commitment not to encroach into foreign waters.

The province has managed to ensure none of its fishing boats enter foreign waters and none of its seafood export consignments have failed to demonstrate origin.

All offshore fishing boats have been granted licenses and 99.5 per cent have also got certificates of food safety, according to the sub-department.

Some 99.7 per cent of boats required to install VMS have done so, and the rate increases to 100 per cent in the case of boats at least 24 metres. — VNS