Towards sustainable fisheries (04-07-2018)

After 6 months of efforts to implement nine criteria issued by the European Commission for anti- illegal fishing, the Vietnamese fisheries sector has not met the requirements. Therefore, the “yellow card” has not been removed and remained until the end of December 2018. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for the fisheries sector to develop in a safe and sustainable manner.
Towards sustainable fisheries

Efforts to overcome the “yellow card”

In order to combat illegal, unreported, unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as addressing many of the EC's recommendations, the fisheries sector is determined to follow a viable option of effectively implementing Fisheries Law 2017.

Since, in addition to the allocation of fishing licenses for fishing vessels by fishing in the seas and decentralization to the provincial level for licensing each fishing vessel; Specifying the content of output management by quotas of migratory species and group – gathering species, the law also raised the penalty for vessel owners who make IUU fishing to 1 billion VND. “The high level of punishment not only reflects Vietnam's determination to overcome IUU fishing but also enhances the sense of responsibility of fishermen in fishing”, emphasized Deputy Director of Fisheries Department Phung Dinh Toan.

Along with the functional sectors, many fishermen in the province cooperate through the application of technology in fisheries exploitation and preservation to overcome the “yellow card”. Fishermen Nguyen Thanh Kham, from Tinh Ky Commune (Quang Ngai City), said that the use of the Movimar fishing vessel monitoring system not only helped him fishing, but also facilitated functional sectors in the management and control of fishing. So, for many years, Mr. Kham always turn on the Movimar system when fishing.

 However, according to the Department of Fisheries, the Movimar system is not used by many fishermen, because of their fears of disclosure of fishing grounds and fishing schedules. So, recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Directorate of Fisheries to coordinate with localities to review, recover, maintain and upgrade the Movimar system which has been installed recently on the fishing vessels. At the same time, this system will continue to be installed for fishing vessels in the period of 2018-2020, enabling the authorities to more closely manage fishing operations, as well as to assist rescue work for fishermen.

Sustainable Development

According to the Fisheries Department, regulations on IUU fishing have created many challenges for the fishing industry and fishermen in the province. However, this is also a chance for the industry to look back at itself, to effectively implement the restructuring. As regulations on IUU fishing not only create a turning point in management, but also help fishermen change their fishing habits towards sustainable development. Seafood exporters will be more cautious in the procurement and use of seafood materials to meet the EC management and inspection requirements.

In order to combat IUU fishing and develop sustainable fisheries, the application of surveillance data on fishing and fishing grounds through satellite should be strengthened. At the same time, fishermen should be encouraged to self-monitor each others, community organizations share the responsibility to protect fisheries resources. This will timely prevent violations during the exploitation of fisheries resources.

Nhu Nguyet

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