Staff from the provincial Fisheries Department checks a monitoring device on a fishing boat before it operates offshore at Qui Nhơn fishing port in Quy Nhơn City. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Localities in Việt Nam have taken a number of measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing since the country received a “yellow card” warning from the European Commission (EC) in 2017.  

But experts say more work needs to be done to improve their fisheries governance and retain access to EU market.

Nguyễn Công Bình, deputy head of Bình Định Fisheries Department, said by the end of July last year, the province has completed installing Movimar device – a system to monitor fishing vessels and aquatic resources by satellite technology) for all vessels with a length of 24m or more. 

Only 603 out of 3,231 boats of between 15 and 24m in length have the system installed.

In accordance with the recommendations of the EC for offshore fishing vessels to be transparent and to fight illegal fishing, the installation of monitoring equipment must be finished by the end of March, this year.

The high number of fishing boats which have not yet installed the equipment was causing difficulties for the management of vessels and traceability, Bình said.

Even after the installation completed, it was still a hard job.

“To supervise 3,300 fishing boats, there should be an adequate staff are on duty around the clock and specialists in traceability and supervision of fishing vessels. However, it is still short in demand,” he said, adding that a lot of fishing ports in the province have not yet received the software to trace the operating areas of fishing boats.

The southern most province of Cà Mau also faces similar problems.

The monitoring systems have been installed on 55 per cent of vessels of 15m in length and 88 per cent of those with a length of 24m or more.

Mai Anh Nhịn, deputy chairman of Kiên Giang Province’s People’s Committee said the installation of monitoring devices was an important issue but many boats did not turn on the device when going to sea.

Traceability was also an issue.

“The traceability has not met EC’s requirement for the control of product’s legality before exporting to EU market,” said Phùng Đức Tiến, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development at a workshop held in December on the issue.

Currently, there were 129 fishing boats in waters outside Việt Nam’s territory and 69 boats in disputed areas, he said, adding that Việt Nam has explained this to the EC.

To solve the problem, Bình said the province would coordinate with other provinces and agencies to complete the installation of monitoring device and closely supervise vessels operating offshore.

The locality would strengthen the dissemination for boat owners and captains to hand in fishing records as required.

Triều from Cà Mau Province proposed the Government to issue guidance on software management and support localities in demanding vessels to install monitoring devices.

Nhịn suggested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security assist provinces to stop illegal fishing by local vessels. — VNS

Tuna caught by fishermen transported to Tam Quan Bắc fishing port in Binh Định’s Hoài Nhơn District are supervised to ensure the requirements about tractability. VNA/VNS Photo