Communication and sea trip tracking equipment is installed on a fishing boat in Quảng Ngãi Province. The central coastal province has been revving up on IUU violations and inspections on fishing fleet in efforts of removing EU's 'yellow card' soon. Photo courtesy of Hải Yến

QUẢNG NGÃI — Almost all fishing vessels more than 15m long in the central province of Quảng Ngãi have been equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS), while 942 have already been identified on the National Fisheries Database (Vnfishbase).

Nguyễn Đức Bình, vice director of the Quảng Ngãi's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that 4,259 out of 5,194 fishing boats (82 per cent) had registered for operations at sea.

The department said only 370 boats have been disqualified for offshore fishing, adding that these ships must be banned from fishing activities.

Fishery inspection agencies have been working to complete registration for the last 129 boats of the province's fishing fleet before the EU’s IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing inspection teams begin the fifth check in the central coastal provinces from March 21 to 31.

Strict inspections and final surveys on IUU fishing will be completed by the provincial border guard forces and fishery units, the department reported.

In 2024, 165 IUU fishing violations were found, with a total cash fine of VNĐ29 billion (US$1.2 million) -- but only one boat was given a fine of VNĐ25 million ($1,000) in the first quarter of 2025.

The province will keep enforcing strict measures to address possible violations. Only fully equipped vessels are allowed to fish.

Fishing boats docked at Lý Sơn Island. Almost all fishing vessels in Quảng Ngãi Province have either been registered, or installed VMS equipment for fishing trip control and management. VNS Photo Công Thành

The 24-hour tracking equipment on all fishing boats will help discover ships that intentionally switch off their vessel monitoring systems (VMS), or those that don't accurately report their positions at fishing grounds within 10 days at sea.

Vice Chairman of Quảng Ngãi Province People’s Committee Trần Phước Hiền said that provincial fishery authorities have to send reports on fishing boat fleets and catch to the Directorate of Fisheries each day, with the goal of having the 'yellow card' warning issued by the European Commission in 2017 lifted.

A delegation from the EC had made additional checks on Việt Nam’s IUU fishing violation prevention measures in 2023. — VNS