Ben Tre province also committed to the end of 2018 not to let fishing vessels in violation of fishing in foreign waters.
The Provincial Steering Committee 689 concretized the direction of the Provincial Party Committee and the People's Committee of Ben Tre province in various forms and measures such as the Fisheries Sub-Department in coordination with the Border Guard Offices, Provincial Police Division, Division of Agriculture and Rural Development of the three coastal districts (Binh Dai, Ba Tri and Thanh Phu) and the People's Committee of coastal communes will organize training and dissemination of the Fisheries Law in 2017 for fishermen in the area; Propagandizing fishing vessel owners, captains, fishermen in Ba Tri and Binh Dai districts for no illegal fishing.
The People's Committees of coastal communes in Binh Dai and Ba Tri district organize the fishing vessel owners to sign commitments not to violate foreign waters.
The Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development organizes a trip to Ca Mau province to exchange and learn experiences and propose coordination and support to management of Ben Tre fishing vessels fishing in Ca Mau Province. At the same time, the People's Committee of Ba Tri District issued the decision to set up the representative board of Ba Tri fishermen in Ca Mau province.
Vice chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Huu Lap asked leaders of coastal communes having offshore fishing vessels to persuade fishing vessel owners to sign a commitment not to violate fishing in foreign waters. At the same time, the violation vessel owners and masters shall be penalized, and they shall have to make a public self-assessment and set an example for other ships to draw experience.
For fishing vessels with a length of 24m or more, in 2018, it is necessary to attach a cruise control device for monitoring, prompt notification and warning the vessels if there are signs of violation.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Lap also asked the Provincial Steering Committee 689 to consider that the violation fishing vessels are not entitled to enjoy the policies and preferences of Decree 67/2014/ND-CP of the Government on a number of fisheries development policies.
The Provincial People's Committee agreed with the Border Guard Command at the end of August, 2018, to hold a meeting of the 8 provinces (Binh Thuan, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Kien Giang, Ca Mau) in the management of fishing vessels operating on the sea.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Buoi, Deputy Director of Ben Tre Agriculture and Rural Development Department, almost fishing vessels in the province are currently not under the control due to the fact that the fisheries inspection has only a vessel with a capacity of 385 horsepower with limited operating capacity from the shoreline.
In patrolling and controlling activities, the specialized fisheries inspection coordinated with the Border Guards 2 (with three Border Guard vessels), but just patrolled and controlled from the coastal areas, while the main fishing vessels of the province is in the offshore areas.
In addition, the Official Letter 732/CD-TTg dated 28/05/2017 by the Prime Minister requires fishing vessels to be equipped with monitoring equipment. However, the Fisheries Law 2017 regulating the installation of equipment in fishing boats will be effective from 1/1/2019.
Mr. Nguyen Van Buoi said that the Fisheries Department has recently invested in the installation of a shore station for determining the location of the vessel on the sea to implement support policies for offshore fishing.
However, the Coastal Facility Project for the Offshore Fishing Program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development installed the VX.1700 communication device with integrated GPS, while almost the offshore fishing vessel of the province are equipped with conventional ICOM communication equipment, which is not compatible with shore station equipment, so they cannot take advantage of the shore station to monitor the location of the province's vessels operating at sea.
Over time, most of the Ben Tre fishing vessels have been regularly arrested for violation of foreign waters temporarily reside and fish in Ca Mau province, which make Difficult for the departments in management and review, verification as well as handling the violation case.
According to Colonel Nguyen Chi Quang, Deputy Commander of the Border Guards of Ben Tre province, the propaganda and dissemination of law for captains and fishermen on legal fishing at sea is a must. However, there is still a need for big fines on illegal fishing vessels in foreign waters.
In addition, delinquent fishing vessels shall be deleted number and the registration. The master of the violation vessel will be deprived of the practice license. This is enough to deter and limit the fishing vessels illegally fishing in foreign waters.
Colonel Nguyen Chi Quang also said that the current system of legal documents is incomplete and incomprehensible, sanctions for violations are not sufficiently deterrent. These constraints make it difficult for the Border Guards to manage and handle fishing vessels in violation of foreign waters (Fisheries Law 2017, which has been amended, however, has not yet entered into force. Decree, Circular is not complete).
Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is proposed to advise the Government on the amendment and supplement of Decree No. 103/2013/ ND-CP on handling administrative violations in the fishery sector.
Nhu Nguyet