Combating IUU fishing and sustainably protecting aquatic resources

IUU fishing is a threat

According to the EC, IUU is fishing activities by vessels without permission or with permission but violating fishing regulations, with the aim of bringing in greater profits than fishing in accordance with regulations on sustainable fishing.
IUU fishing is the greatest threat to the maintenance and conservation of aquatic resources and marine biodiversity, causing serious environmental and socio-economic impacts worldwide.

IUU fishing is estimated to account for nearly 20% of the world’s total annual seafood production. The majority of IUU fishing occurs in developing countries due to a lack of control mechanisms and traceability solutions.

The EU is the world’s largest seafood import market (about 20 billion Euros) and is also a potential market for seafood products from IUU fishing. Therefore, the EC has issued regulations on IUU to prevent products from IUU fishing from entering the EU, demonstrating its responsibility to the international community. Accordingly, seafood products imported into the EU must have a fishing certificate.

The competent authority of the country of the fishing vessel must certify that the fishery products caught on board are in accordance with the provisions of law and international regulations on the management and conservation of fishery resources. This certification is issued by the competent authority and applies to all processed and unprocessed products.

Furthermore, for countries that still commit IUU fishing violations, the EC warns with a “yellow card” so that the country can take measures to improve and correct the situation according to recommendations. If the situation does not improve, it will be punished with a “red card” - that is, a ban on exporting seafood products to the EU.

Seafood products exported to the EU from countries with yellow cards are subject to 100% control, so the import time is long and costly. At the same time, the country's image is affected in most markets in the world because this list is made public by the EU.

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In summary, fishing by unregistered vessels, without a license or violating regulations on resource protection according to the laws of the host country or of the regional management organization, regulations of international law in all sea areas or not reporting or reporting incorrectly to the competent authority of the country or management organization is IUU fishing.

Provisions of the Law on Fisheries

Compared with Vietnamese law, specifically according to the 2017 Fisheries Law, Clause 1, Article 60 stipulates that acts considered illegal exploitation include: Exploiting aquatic products without a license; Exploiting aquatic products in prohibited areas, during the prohibited exploitation period; Exploiting and transporting prohibited aquatic products; Exploiting aquatic species with smaller sizes than prescribed; Using prohibited fishing techniques and gear; Illegal exploitation of aquatic species on the List of endangered, precious and rare aquatic species; Illegal exploitation of aquatic products in sea areas under the management of regional, national and other territorial fisheries management organizations; Exploiting aquatic products exceeding the output of each species, exploiting in the wrong area, or exceeding the time limit stated in the license; Concealing, falsifying or destroying evidence of violations of regulations related to exploitation and protection of aquatic resources; Obstructing or opposing competent persons from inspecting and supervising compliance with regulations on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources; Transporting or assisting vessels identified as having engaged in illegal fishing, except in cases of force majeure; Not equipping or inadequately equipping or failing to operate communication equipment and voyage monitoring equipment as prescribed.

There are also the following acts: Not having a Certificate of food safety qualified facility as prescribed; Temporarily importing, re-exporting, temporarily exporting, re-importing, transferring, transiting through the territory of Vietnam aquatic products, aquatic products originating from illegal fishing; Not recording, recording incompletely, incorrectly, not submitting fishing logs, not reporting as prescribed; Using stateless fishing vessels or vessels with the nationality of a non-member country to illegally exploit aquatic products in international waters under the management authority of regional fisheries management organizations; Using fishing vessels to exploit aquatic products not in accordance with regulations on exploitation and protection of aquatic resources in international waters not under the management authority of regional fisheries management organizations.

Thus, legally, the Fisheries Law is fully consistent with the European criteria for combating IUU fishing.

The issue of protecting aquatic resources is an urgent need because the fishing industry is really unsustainable. According to the investigation of the Marine Research Institute, in the period 2000 - 2005, the marine reserves in Vietnam's sea area were about 4.82 million tons, the allowable exploitation capacity was about 2.1 - 2.4 million tons/year.

However, by the 2016-2020 period, according to the survey, Vietnam's marine seafood reserves were only 3.95 million tons, down 9.5% compared to the 2011-2015 period and 22.1% compared to the 2000-2005 period, in which bottom seafood reserves declined faster. Meanwhile, in 2020, the exploitation output reached 3.8 million tons, exceeding the allowable exploitation output by more than 60%.

The above consequences have caused a new consequence, which is that the exploitation efficiency of fishermen is decreasing. According to statistics, in 1985, the average exploitation output per CV of the average vessel capacity in the country was 1.1 tons, but by 2019 it was only 0.26 tons/CV.

Nghe An is no exception. In 1989, the average output per boat was 0.83 tons, but by 2021 it was only 0.289 tons/boat.

It can be said that the recent increase in fishing output is due to increased exploitation (increased number of boats and capacity). This has resulted in a decrease in fishermen's income. And this is one of the underlying causes of illegal fishing (IUU).

Besides, although we have sufficient legal documents and high determination, in practice, there are still many shortcomings in the past time, so compared to the Philippines and Thailand, the "yellow card" warning period of Europe for us is longer.

Nghe An cares about protecting aquatic resources

Nghe An has 82 km of coastline with 5 estuaries. Located at the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin, the fishing industry is quite developed and is among the largest in the northern provinces. Currently, the whole province has 3,614 fishing vessels. Of which, the number of fishing vessels required to be registered (with a maximum length of 6m or more) by October 18, 2023 is 2,717, of which 2,470 have been registered (reaching 90.91%).

By October 18, 2023, the total number of workers in the province exploiting aquatic products will be over 16,660 people. Of which, the number of workers exploiting offshore areas is 8,408 people, the number of workers exploiting offshore areas is 3,109 people, and the number of workers exploiting coastal areas is 5,143 people.

Every year, the whole province exploits about 200,000 tons of seafood of all kinds.

In recent times, the protection of aquatic resources in Nghe An has been strongly directed by the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee. Many solutions have been implemented such as policies to support fishermen in installing marine equipment (journey monitoring, fish finders, long-range radios, etc.), support for restructuring of vessels, changing occupations, etc. Management has been strengthened in terms of registration, inspection, and fisheries inspection, etc.

However, there are still many issues that need to be resolved such as: Production exceeds the allowable exploitation capacity, exploitation productivity decreases, there is still the phenomenon of exploitation without proper license, the exploitation log is not recorded properly, there are still small boats that have not been registered... Especially the problem of converting fishermen from fishing to other occupations to reduce pressure.

To protect aquatic resources for sustainable aquaculture development and at the same time promote the removal of the EU's "yellow card", it is necessary to pay attention to some of the following issues:

- Further promote the propaganda work for all fishermen as well as cadres at all levels about the importance of protecting aquatic resources and combating illegal IUU fishing for the long-term livelihoods as well as the lives and incomes of fishermen. This must be considered a task arising from an urgent need arising from within, not just a task to remove the EU's "yellow card" warning.

- Close coordination between forces: fisheries surveillance, border guards, coast guard, fishing ports, local authorities... to continue to improve management measures, as well as solutions to combat IUU fishing. Strictly punish illegal fishing violations, countermeasures in monitoring journeys, fishing logs,... Prosecute typical cases to have deterrent measures and set an example.

- Completely resolve the number of unregistered small boats (mainly in coastal areas) and ships without navigation equipment (mainly ships under repair).

- Early application of information technology in digitizing fishing logs (currently being tested in some provinces) and in tracing the origin of aquatic products to facilitate fishermen's operations at sea. Especially applying information technology to connect management with fishing ports nationwide, first of all provinces with boats docking at Nghe An and provinces with boats docking at Nghe An.

- It is necessary to soon issue policies to support fishermen, especially supporting fishermen to change jobs from the fishing industry, supporting fishermen when seasonal fishing is banned, providing vocational training for fishermen (fishing, aquaculture, processing, services, industry, information technology use...), supporting labor export...

- Continue to promote solutions to link exploitation with the protection of aquatic resources. In particular, there is a plan to immediately implement Decision 389 dated April 9, 2024 of the Prime Minister on "Approval of the planning for the protection and exploitation of aquatic resources for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050". In which it is necessary to focus on the consistent idea of ​​the planning: reduce exploitation, increase marine aquaculture and conserve marine resources!

Exploitation and protection of aquatic resources to develop the fisheries sector in a transparent, effective, sustainable and responsible manner is our urgent and long-term task. The fisheries sector has made many contributions to the socio-economic development of the country as well as Nghe An province, however, control is not good, efficiency and sustainability are still low.

Uncle Ho taught: Our silver sea is owned by our people! When the people are given ownership, and the authorities at all levels and functional agencies do a good job of management and control, the sea will certainly be protected, and fishing grounds will be exploited and conserved in a transparent, responsible, sustainable and effective manner.