The mission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, worked with the leaders of Binh Dinh province to perform some tasks and urgent solutions to overcome the European Commission's warning on IUU.
Strict handling of violent fishing vessels
According to the People's Committee of Binh Dinh Province, from the beginning of 2019 until now, the province has 13 ships and 89 crew members arrested by functional forces in the area. There were 48 violations of fishing vessels discovered through Movimar satellite technology system and 2 ships were warned by regional commanders in the South Sea.
Mr. Phan Trong Ho - Director of Binh Dinh DARD said that Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee has instructed us to send documents to notify ship owners to leave foreign waters and request to warn owners and captains when returning to shore. In particular, the fishing port does not confirm the origin of seafood in the voyage of fishing vessels violating.
According to Mr. Ho, the cause of the incident not only comes from fishermen’s awareness but also because the sea boundary between Vietnam and some countries in the region is not clear, especially in the southern sea area, there are some overlapping areas. Therefore, some cases of fishermen exploiting in this sea area is illegally arrested by the law enforcement forces of the countries.
Mr. Ho said that the collection of evidence to handle violations is difficult because when the fishing vessels violate, the authorities only receive the notice of the host countries through diplomatic channels.
According to Colonel Tran Huy Giap - Deputy Director of Binh Dinh Provincial Police, there are many fishing vessels leaving the province and often not returning to the province or the ship is sold to other provincial fishermen but still carrying the Binh Dinh signboard. Therefore, the investigation and handling are very difficult.
Do not let effort to dump the river, dump the sea
According to Ms. Vu Thi Hue - Director of Legal Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the EC is interested in some issues such as the organization, management of fishing vessels, traceability of certification, seafood certification and issuance of mining licenses aquatic products. Therefore, the activities that Binh Dinh province has implemented must be reflected in the dossier, to demonstrate that Binh Dinh in particular and Vietnam in general have made efforts to implement the EC's recommendations.
Affirming the overcoming of EC warning to remove yellow card for Vietnamese seafood is an important political task, Vice Chairman of Binh Dinh People's Committee Tran Chau committed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct drastically, implement the many measures to convince the EC to abolish the yellow card for Vietnamese seafood.
“In the coming time, we continue to implement many measures to combat IUU, resolutely sanction and make a review before people of cases of infringing on foreign waters. The province has also cooperated with the southern provinces and cities to manage the number of Binh Dinh fishing vessels that often anchor and leave for fishing at provincial fishing ports”- Mr. Chau affirmed.
Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development highly appreciated the efforts of Binh Dinh Province and asked the locality to continuously promote the sense of responsibility, towards a responsible and sustainable fishery, as a basis for demonstration, persuading the EC to remove the yellow card for seafood.
According to Mr.Tien, there are only 4 months left to solve the problems of IUU. Hence,it is necessary to immediately make a comprehensive report on 28 provinces and specific action plans, not to establish a delegation. The Deputy Minister also noted the conclusion that the Deputy Prime Minister had instructed the EC to check which provinces violated. The Chairman of that Provincial People's Committee should be responsible, so each locality should raise its responsibility during this period.
Vice Minister Tien requested Binh Dinh province to continuously promote propaganda and sign commitments with ship owners, avoiding cases of fishing vessels encroaching on foreign waters. Consensus in fishermen must be created in order to prevent the IUU from achieving high results. At the same time, Binh Dinh province also arrange to increase human resources for serving the inspection and management of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports, to confirm the source of aquatic products promptly and accurately.
Le Mai