Publicly release data on deregistered fishing vessels for monitoring and enforcement purposes.
This was the request of government leaders at the 26th online meeting held on the evening of December 16th with ministries, departments, and coastal localities on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Presiding over the conference from Hanoi was Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Head of the National Steering Committee on Combating IUU Fishing. Also attending were representatives from ministries, agencies, and coastal provinces and cities.
At the Nghe An location, Mr. Hoang Phu Hien, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, presided over the meeting; also present were representatives from relevant departments and agencies..
Following the Government's directive, during the week of December 8-12, in addition to finalizing the report as requested by the EC and submitting it for comments from ministries, sectors, and localities, the Standing Office advised the Prime Minister to issue a directive on decisively implementing measures to combat IUU fishing and promote sustainable development of Vietnam's fisheries sector; and established an inter-ministerial task force to inspect and combat IUU fishing in several provinces and cities. The inspection revealed that, alongside the advantages, there were still some limitations, such as discrepancies in the data tracking the number of vessels entering and leaving ports; and insufficient legal basis for handling violations involving some vessels that lost VMS signal connectivity...
Regarding the implementation of measures to combat IUU fishing, ministries, departments, and localities continue to urge the management of fishing fleets; review and monitor fishing vessels that do not meet operating requirements; and functional agencies continue to coordinate and handle 91 fishing vessels seized by foreign countries, of which 78 vessels have been identified and 13 vessels have unknown information.
According to reports from localities, from the beginning of 2024 to December 12, 2025, there were 22,268 instances of fishing vessels losing VMS connectivity for more than 6 hours and more than 10 days at sea. Through inspections, 22,266 out of 22,268 vessels were processed, including 4,034 vessels that received penalties, achieving a rate of 18.12%. Along with reporting on implementation results, ministries, sectors, and localities also reported on the progress and results of handling cases in accordance with EC recommendations.
In Nghe An province, the province completed 19 out of 19 assigned tasks this week. Two tasks, which were initiated last week, are the development of a plan for vocational retraining for fishermen, which has been reviewed by relevant departments and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval; and the proposal of a list of fishing ports requiring investment for upgrading.
As of December 12th, Nghe An province had 2,629 registered vessels, with 100% of them updated on Vnfishbase; 99.73% of vessels were granted fishing licenses; and 7 vessels that did not meet the requirements for issuance or renewal were handed over to the People's Committees of communes and wards for management. Regarding the handling of fishing vessels violating connectivity regulations, 1,279 out of 1,279 vessels were processed, achieving 100%, including 246 vessels fined (19%) and 1,033 vessels (81%) having their cases closed.
At the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested that the report directly address the issues raised but not yet addressed or investigated; clarify information regarding the 13 ships currently being detained, and report to the Government if necessary.
Concluding the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister frankly stated that the progress in addressing the issues raised in the EC's recommendations has not met expectations. This reality highlights the need for new approaches and methods in the future. Ministries, sectors, and localities must publicly register data on vessels whose registrations need to be deregistered. A framework outlining the necessary actions for each sector is needed, including tracking seafood export data for each province; businesses must report, otherwise they will not be allowed to process export procedures. Ministries responsible for managing fisheries data must publicly disclose information on deregistered vessels (also known as "ghost" vessels) so that localities and relevant authorities can monitor and handle them; localities will be responsible for managing, monitoring, and reporting to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment for submission to the Government.
At the end of the session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and made supplementary remarks, requesting ministries, agencies, and localities to provide further reports, adhering to the EC's recommendations to verify, inspect, and address the yellow card issue. He emphasized that the inspection process must thoroughly adhere to the six clear principles: "clear person, clear task, clear time, clear duration, clear authority, and clear responsibility" to ensure accurate review and evaluation results.
