To achieve that result, the most important implemented solution by the border guard and the functional forces is to intensify the propaganda fishermen to improve their legal knowledge. At the same time, ships have not installed cruise monitoring equipment resolutely do not go to the sea.
Many efforts to help people peacefully cling to the sea
Ca Mau currently has over 5 thousand fishing boats, including about 2 thousand offshore fishing boats. Previously, the inspection and supervision were not synchronized, so the number of fishing vessel violations of maritime regulations often occurred. Particularly, some ships even cross over to foreign waters to catch. Only from the end of 2016 to the end of 2017, Ca Mau Border Guard has issued a decision to sanction the above violations with over VND 5 billion.
Along with patrolling, controlling and strictly handling violations, Ca Mau People's Committee has implemented the installation of cruise monitoring equipment on fishing vessels. In 2018, the situation of Ca Mau fishermen in violation of foreign waters decreased significantly. Especially in 2019, the situation at sea was completely controlled for fishing vessels with cruise control equipment installed.
The center manages and supervises fishing vessels' journeys assigned by the provincial People's Committee to Ca Mau Border Guard. Centre monitors the ships on two television monitors with 55 inch connected to the computer system, all signals of the fishing vessel, including the number of voyages and mooring will be detected. In order to check any fishing vessel, even hundreds of nautical miles away, with just one click, all parameters such as symbols, payload, captain's name, vehicle owner, address, phone number, are in longitude, any latitude, etc are clearly on the screen.
Colonel Luong Hoang Dong, commander of the Ca Mau Border Guard said that the installation of surveillance equipment for fishing vessels to serve the management, supervision, detection and handling of violations, proceeds to end the situation of fishing vessels and fishermen in Ca Mau province violating foreign waters to exploit aquatic resources; Support natural disaster prevention, search and rescue at sea and carry out certification and certification of origin of aquatic raw materials. This device has wide coverage for the entire East Sea and gulf of Thailand. The devide is able to send diaries, electronic reports, receive storm information, tropical depressions, have emergency buttons when the ship is in distress. This device can also report the automatic location to the observation center located at the provincial Headquarters. If the center detects that there are vehicles traveling near the sea bordering countries, the Border Guard will use the communication system to call the captain, or notify the owner of the means to know promptly. If the vehicle is intentionally violated, we will rely on the data to process it.
Until November 20 2019, the whole province had 1,105 vehicles installed cruise monitoring equipment. In the first 9 months of 2019, through surveillance equipment, Border Guard detectors called for 41 fishing boats of fishermen showing signs of violating foreign waters to return to traditional waters.
According to the Government's Decree No. 41 (2017), for violations of foreign waters for fishing, ship owners will be fined VND 70 million and the captain will have a 3-month driver's license suspended. But in 2019, the Government has Decree No. 42/2019 / ND-CP, dated May 16 2019, if violating foreign waters, the fine is from VND 800 million to 1 billion, confiscating seafood and ships.
Effective monitoring equipment
Mr. To Thanh Loi, a fisherman from Song Doc town, Tran Van Thoi district said that before I handed the ship over to the captain, I went to the sea and didn't know where the ship was, the captain said where I knew I was. Now I sit at home and know where you are, active or inactive. If the ship goes near the sea bordering the foreign country, there will be an immediate signal, or some officials at the border guard station immediately remind themselves and call the ship back.
However, some fishing boat owners have not been interested in installing this equipment because they think that the price is high (about VND 25 million/vessel), besides they have not really voluntarily complied with the regulations on fishing in the sea, have not seen the utility when installing this device. Therefore, border units have made efforts to advocate for fishermen to better understand the need of installing cruise monitoring equipment.
For those who have participated in the installation, it is reassuring whenever their vehicles set sail. Because a lot of vehicle owners didn't go directly to the ship but handed over all the properties to the captain. In the past, where the boats caught, they were difficult to control. Now, the ship owner with just a smartphone has supervised and protected his assets. They were said by Mr. Doan Quoc Luom, fisherman of Song Doc, Tran Van Thoi district.
However, Mr. Luom and some other fishermen are still not satisfied with the cost of using the service, each month the equipment has a fixed cost of VND 350,000 per month; If you make a call on this device, it costs VND 18,000 per minute. In addition, it need to having to pay 1 year subscription fee.
With the goal of getting back the "green card" for Vietnamese seafood from the European Commission (EC), it is hoped that the installation of fishing vessel monitoring equipment of Ca Mau will be implemented in a synchronized manner with positive working of fishermen in the near future.
Le Mai