The EC yellow card must be removed by the end of 2023.
(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of June 1, the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing (IUU) held the 7th online meeting with ministries and localities to continue strengthening solutions to handle IUU violations.
Chairing from the Hanoi bridge was comrade Tran Luu Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister. Also attending were representatives of ministries, branches who are members of the National IUU Steering Committee and leaders of the People's Committees of 28 coastal provinces and cities.
At Nghe An bridge, comrade Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired. Also attending were representatives of departments, branches, People's Committees of coastal districts, towns and communes and wards.
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Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang gives instructions from Hanoi. Photo: Nguyen Hai (screenshot) |
Since 2012, 4 out of 11 countries in Southeast Asia have received a “yellow card” from the European Commission (EC). Cambodia was the first country to receive a “yellow card” in November 2012 and after a year the “yellow card” was changed to a “red card”, meaning that seafood products were banned from entering the European Community (EU). In October 2017, Vietnam received a “yellow card” because some fishermen had not stopped illegal fishing.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang shared that this was a meeting to consider and handle the not-so-new issue of IUU fishing. This situation is beingEC recommends yellow card penalty6 years ago and the National IUU Steering Committee has met for the 7th time. The EC has also inspected 3 times and most recently in October 2022, the EC continued to issue recommendations. The inspection at the end of May was postponed and postponed to October this year, but that does not mean that ministries, branches and localities are lax. From this meeting, ministries, branches and localities must be determined and find solutions to rectify fishing activities in order to remove the yellow card by the end of the year.
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Carrying out procedures for registering fishing boats to leave Lach Quen port for fishing. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in recent times, despite many efforts, the workIUU fishing managementThere are still some limitations. The situation of Vietnamese fishing vessels going to the waters of countries in the region to fish and being arrested still exists. Since the beginning of 2023, 16 vessels/84 fishermen from Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang provinces have been arrested and processed by Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia, and the EC has affirmed that it will not lift the "yellow card" warning if this situation does not end.
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Nghe An Fisheries Surveillance Force propagates and reminds fishermen to ensure labor safety and procedures when fishing at sea. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Besides, the fishing power of our country's fleet is still large, but the work of law enforcement and punishment of IUU fishing acts in some localities is still weak, irresponsible and unsynchronized; the work of licensing, management and supervision of fishing vessels at ports is still loose; some localities still have acts of brokerage and collusion to send fishing vessels to illegally exploit in foreign waters, but the results of investigation and handling are still limited...
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Comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the IUU Steering Committee of Nghe An province chaired the conference at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
At the meeting, representatives of ministries and localities with fishing vessels violating the law spoke about the results of recent inspections. In addition to propaganda and reminders, some ministries and localities have inspected, punished and prosecuted some serious violators, but the phenomenon of illegal fishing has not yet ended; proposed to soon issue a policy to change jobs for fishermen after reducing the strength of the fishing fleet...
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Fisheries control forces towed a fishing boat that violated regulations back to shore for administrative punishment. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Through presenting a number of situations that functional forces inspect and handle at sea, ministries, branches and localities also proposed a number of solutions such as strengthening coordination between functional forces and localities at sea to both promptly handle fishing vessels that violate regulations and protect our fishing vessels from reasonable fishing, and chase away fishing vessels from other countries that violate regulations; promptly consider amending the Decree on support policies for building offshore vessels, going offshore and sticking to the sea; and increasing penalties...
In fact, in some bordering and undemarcated sea areas, not only Vietnamese fishing vessels but also fishing vessels from neighboring countries come to fish, so in order to have a basis to chase away or punish violating fishing vessels, it is necessary to improve the quality of VMS equipment as well as the capacity of the fishing vessel monitoring system so that the authorities at sea can punish violating fishing vessels; at the same time, protect fishermen fishing legally...
(Excerpt from the speech of the representative of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province)
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Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Standing Agency of the National IUU Steering Committee answers some issues proposed by ministries and localities. Photo: Nguyen Hai (screenshot) |
Based on the comments, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang concluded by emphasizing the role of removing the EC yellow card for seafood and Vietnam's position in the international arena. Frankly pointing out the limitations of IUU fishing management, the Deputy Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to make efforts to ensure that there are no more fishing vessels violating the law to remove the yellow card and avoid receiving a red card. Strive with other solutions to remove the yellow card by the end of 2023 to bring Vietnamese seafood back to the EC and further to other major markets such as Japan, the US...
Localities must be resolute, handle the situation strongly and with deterrence so that each ship owner and fisherman must consider when fishing. Agree with the recommendations of some ministries and localities to bring some violations to trial as examples; at the same time, from now until October, inspection teams will be established for localities; ministries and localities will strengthen coordination and have a specific roadmap and specific solutions; improve the quality of monitoring equipment through fishing vessel systems and VMS equipment on fishing vessels; pay attention to ensuring the regime and equipment for functional forces and law enforcement at sea; prepare good conditions to welcome the EC delegation for inspection.
(Excerpt from the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang)
