Thanh Hoá is among provinces that will be inspected during the fifth working round with the inspection delegation from the European Commission in May. VNA/VNS Photo

THANH HOÁ — The People's Committee of the northern central province of Thanh Hoá on March 13 held a conference to deploy urgent tasks and solutions to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Speaking at the conference, Director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Văn Cường, who is also Standing Deputy Head of the provincial Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing, requested relevant departments, agencies and coastal localities to thoroughly address outstanding shortcomings and limitations towards promptly preventing and fully ending IUU fishing in the province.

The province’s Fisheries Sub-Department and Thanh Hoá Fishing Port Management Board will continue to assign staff to guide households and fishing vessel owners to complete paperwork as prescribed.

They will keep coordinating with border guards and waterway traffic police to strengthen patrols and control of fishing activities to strictly handle violations.

The fisheries sub-department strictly updated the volume of seafood catches unloaded at local ports onto the national database.

Any fishing vessels that are found to not meet regulations or commit IUU fishing must be reported to the competent authority for properly handling.

Competent agencies and localities were asked to intensify communications activities to raise vessel owners and households' understanding on regulations against IUU fishing.

Vessels without registration, fishing licences and certificates that prove their seaworthiness (vessels with 3 NOs) are not allowed to operate at sea.

Meanwhile, the provincial Border Guard Command will organise a crackdown to ensure that vessels without papers, license plates or vessel monitoring system (VMS) are not allowed to sail.

They will also focus on verifying and handle cases where fishing vessels’ VMS lose connection while the ships are at sea or fishing vessels go beyond permitted boundaries at sea.

Thanh Hoá is among provinces that will be inspected during the fifth working round with the inspection delegation from the European Commission (EC) in May. VNS