A boat owner and a border soldier inspect the vessel's journey monitoring system in the south-central province of Phú Yên. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Triệu

HÀ NỘI — After three inspections, the European Commission (EC) said Việt Nam has made improvements in the process of removing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said an EC delegation will visit Việt Nam on May 25 to inspect the work carried out against IUU fishing.

The EC has not yet removed the yellow card for Việt Nam because some localities lack efforts in implementing the recommendations.

The Vietnamese Government upheld the viewpoint that preventing and eliminating IUU fishing is the responsibility of each coastal country to protect sustainable aquatic resources and marine ecosystems, as well as stabilise public sustainable livelihoods, ensure national defence and security in the seas and implement international commitments and treaties to which Việt Nam is a signatory.

By May 2023, localities must review all fishing boats to complete registration, marking of fishing vessels, issue fishing licences, install Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and update 100 per cent of fishing vessel data into the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).

Local authorities must compile a list of fishing vessels that do not catch fish and those which stand high risks of IUU fishing violations and send the list to the authorities for surveillance.

Authorities have been asked to follow the vessels offshore journeys all the time through VMS from when boats leave port until their return.

According to Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by the end of April, 97.5 per cent of fishing vessels across the country have been equipped with VMS.

Ten out of 28 coastal localities have established the marine control forces.

About 28.5 per cent of the total fish catch has been monitored through the ports.

The number of fishing vessels caught by foreign forces for violations was 84 in 2022. Since early this year, 16 boats have been seized.

In mid-April, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính asked the provinces of Bình Định, Khánh Hòa, Bình Thuận and Kiên Giang, whose fishing boats have infringed foreign waters, to identify responsibility of leaders.

The yellow card warning has been imposed on Việt Nam by EC since October 23, 2017

EU is in the top five largest seafood export markets of Việt Nam, after the US, China, Japan and South Korea.

The EU market contributed US$1.3 billion to Việt Nam's total seafood export turnover of $11 billion last year. — VNS