“Removing the European yellow card”, bringing seafood to the world

Current status of fishing ports

On October 23, 2017, the European Commission issued a “yellow card” warning to Vietnam’s exploited seafood products because Vietnam has not yet controlled illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, Vietnam’s fisheries management is not consistent with regional and global fisheries management, and especially has not met the European Commission’s regulations on traceability of exploited seafood products.

Cua Hoi fishing port. Photo: Trung Ha

Immediately after the European Commission issued the “Yellow Card” warning, the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, central agencies and People's Committees of coastal provinces and cities focused on directing and organizing the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations on combating IUU fishing.

Lach Quen fishing port in Quynh Luu district is considered to have the largest number of large ships anchoring in the province. Therefore, the fishing port management unit here has a hard time performing its daily tasks.

However, when the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development inspected and urged the implementation of solutions to combat illegal fishing (IUU) according to the recommendations of the European Commission at fishing ports, many limitations were revealed.

Fishermen from Quynh Luu district fish in the Gulf of Tonkin. Photo: Nguyen Khoa

That is: The road to the fishing port is not guaranteed, the fishing port is still polluted; the inspection and control of boats entering and leaving the port is not in accordance with regulations, only stopping at the registration of entry and exit to collect daily boat fees. Boats with capacity over 90CV have not installed a positioning system... The bookkeeping work of the fishing port management board lacks specificity. Especially in controlling fishing boats arriving at the port, there is a lack of accuracy, no attention is paid to boat safety and seafood output.

Mr. Chu Van Tan - Head of Lach Van Fishing Port said: The port has been invested in and upgraded by the state, creating favorable conditions for ships to dock. Every year, there are about 2,700 ships entering and leaving the port. The output of seafood through the port reaches over 10,500 tons/year. The fishing port management board has controlled 1,373 ships entering and leaving the port, the controlled seafood output is nearly 6,000 tons.

However, because the unit does not have a voyage monitoring device, while most of the boats have not installed a positioning system on board, the unit regularly propagates to fishermen not to fish in other countries' waters. Furthermore, due to limited human resources, the unit has not done a good job of inspecting and controlling boats, seafood, etc. according to the new law on fisheries exploitation.

This situation is not only at Lach Quen port but also common at the remaining three fishing ports in the province (Quynh Phuong fishing port, Lach Van fishing port and Cua Hoi fishing port).

Lach Quen fishing port is always bustling. Photo: Thanh Yen

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tho - representative of Nghe An Fishing Port Management Board admitted that there are shortcomings in fishing ports; the unit has not done a good job of inspecting and controlling illegal fishing according to the recommendations of the European Commission. Therefore, in the coming time, the unit will coordinate with border guard units to do a good job of this work.

Good management from the port to "remove the yellow card"

Marine fisheries are one of the spearheads of our country's economic development. Vietnam's aquatic and seafood products have been exported to many countries around the world. Therefore, since the European Commission EC issued the "European Yellow Card" for Vietnamese seafood products, the Government has paid special attention and made efforts to remove it. To overcome the "European Yellow Card", it is required that Vietnam's fishing industry in general and each locality in particular must comply with the recommendations of the European Commission.

Lach Quen fishing port is always crowded. Photo: Tran Chau

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, in March, the European Commission (EC) will visit Vietnam to inspect illegal fishing activities to remove the “European Yellow Card” for Vietnam. Nghe An is one of the localities directly inspected by the EC.

The EC's inspection content mainly covers the activities of vessels, crew members, fishing supervision by authorities and all activities at fishing ports. Therefore, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien has frankly pointed out the limitations and shortcomings of activities at fishing ports in Nghe An at present, so that local authorities can focus on overcoming them as soon as possible. The important issue now is that Nghe An authorities do a good job of propagating to fishermen to understand and implement; in addition, vessels over 15 m in length must be equipped with voyage monitoring devices.

Fishing ports in the province are always bustling. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said: Implementing Directive No. 689/CT-TTg dated May 18, 2010, Official Dispatch No. 732/CD-TTg dated May 28, 2017 of the Prime Minister on preventing, minimizing and ending Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen from illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has issued a number of documents and plans, including Plan No. 694/KH-UBND dated November 23, 2017 on implementing measures to prevent, minimize and end Nghe An fishing vessels and fishermen from illegally exploiting seafood in foreign waters from now until 2020.

In the coming time, the Provincial People's Committee will direct relevant levels and sectors to step up propaganda work to help fishermen understand the new law on fisheries exploitation; improve operational capacity at fishing ports, strengthen inspection and control of boats... to ensure compliance with the Government's direction on overcoming limitations and removing the "European yellow card".

In 2 years (2017 and 2018), the Department of Fisheries coordinated with the Border Guard and the Department of Fisheries Control Region 1 to conduct 175 patrols, with 6,785 vehicles inspected, and administratively sanctioned 346 vehicles for illegal fishing.