Nghe An participates in the Government's online meeting on combating illegal fishing

Attending the meeting were comrade Tran Hong Ha - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister and relevant ministries and branches.

The meeting was held directly at the Government Headquarters, online with 21 coastal provinces and cities. At the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee bridge, comrades: Le Hong Vinh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee co-chaired. Also attending were leaders of relevant departments and branches.

Nghe An has put an end to "3 no" fishing boats

Implementing the direction of the Secretariat, the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee on combating IUU fishing, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the province has recently resolutely implemented many solutions and achieved positive changes.

Management of fishing vessels in the area is increasingly stricter, with all rates reaching a high level compared to the national average.

Nghe An currently has 2,625 fishing vessels, ranking 5th in the country in terms of quantity, which have been registered, reaching a rate of 100% and have been fully updated to the Vnfishbase database system. Through inspection, 100% of fishing vessels that are eligible to operate are marked and have registration numbers according to regulations.

The total number of vessels with valid registration is 1,385/1,409 fishing vessels subject to registration, while 24 vessels have expired. The total number of fishing vessels with valid fishing licenses is 2,598/2,625 vessels, while 27 vessels have not yet been granted.

The total number of fishing vessels with valid food safety certificates is 995/1,031 vessels, while 36 vessels have expired.

The number of vessels installed with VMS equipment reached 1,024/1,031 fishing vessels required to install VMS.

In particular, the province has synchronized fishing vessel data with the population database, assigning identification and owner phone numbers to 99.81% of vessels.

In addition, Nghe An resolutely handles fishing vessels that violate the law. In 2024, the whole province recorded 717 fishing vessels that lost VMS connection; of which, 573 vessels were handled (reaching 80%), including 205 vessels that were fined (accounting for 29%) with a total amount of more than 5.7 billion VND.

Since the beginning of 2025, 354 ships have lost VMS connection. Authorities have handled 132 ships, of which 65 were fined with a total amount of nearly 2 billion VND.

Particularly for cases of ships losing connection in 2025, 87 ships were handled, of which 20 ships were fined with a total amount of VND 727.5 million.

On the other hand, Nghe An has directed functional forces to preside over and coordinate with relevant localities to organize statistics and review of the "3 no" fishing vessels, and guide ship owners to register, inspect, and license in accordance with regulations; to date, Nghe An province has completed the registration of 614/614 "3 no" fishing vessels, reaching a rate of 100%.

Regarding the group of fishing vessels that do not meet the operating conditions, the Provincial People's Committee has directed relevant departments, branches and localities to take measures to closely monitor and manage, grasp the location of fishing vessels anchored, and not allow fishing vessels that do not meet the operating conditions to participate.

Determined to remove the EC's "yellow card"

After 8 years of efforts, IUU fishing still occurs, causing the European Commission (EC) to not lift the "yellow card" warning, affecting exports, the economy and national reputation.

The meeting heard reports from ministries, branches, and localities and discussed solutions to achieve the goal of removing the "yellow card", especially in the upcoming EC session, scheduled to take place next October.

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the urgency of removing the EC “yellow card”; thereby affirming the guiding ideology and viewpoint of high determination, great efforts, drastic actions, and innovative thinking to handle this issue as quickly as possible.

To achieve that goal, the implementation process must be fundamental, systematic, comprehensive, and not isolated or reactive. Every action must stem from the interests of the nation, the fisheries industry, and the people, especially fishermen, in order to be long-term, sustainable, and effective; not just to defend against and respond to “yellow cards” or “red cards” from partners.

This is also a way to contribute to protecting the independence and sovereignty of the sea and islands, preserving the prestige, honor and intelligence of the Vietnamese people; at the same time, improving the material and spiritual life of fishermen, creating stable and sustainable livelihoods for them.

Evaluation of the results over the past period shows that although each quarter has made progress compared to the previous quarter, the development of the fisheries industry and offshore fishing activities is still not truly sustainable, has not yet removed the EC's "yellow card" warning, and even has the potential risk of being imposed a "red card". In addition, there is also the risk of the United States imposing similar measures.

Based on the analysis of the situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pointed out both subjective and objective causes, and proposed fundamental and urgent tasks, linked to the requirements of sustainable development of the fisheries industry and caring for the material and spiritual lives of fishermen; especially the determination to remove the EC's "yellow card" in 2025.

Regarding solutions, the Prime Minister emphasized: Party committees, authorities, ministries, branches and the whole society, especially leaders, must take part with a high sense of responsibility, acting for the development of the country, the fisheries industry and fishermen.

The head of the Government also requested an urgent review of the fisheries development institution and the immediate issuance of a shortened Government resolution to promptly handle outstanding legal issues.

The Prime Minister requested to strengthen the Steering Committees at all levels on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing according to the two-level local authorities in conjunction with improving enforcement capacity; at the same time, establish a Working Group headed by the Deputy Minister of Public Security to thoroughly handle outstanding violations by fishermen.

He also requested that the Central Steering Committee maintain its regular review regime every Tuesday. Ministries, branches and localities must report on the progress of their tasks.

In particular, the Prime Minister assigned specific tasks to each ministry, sector and locality; including resolutely not allowing fishing vessels that do not meet the conditions and do not have a vessel monitoring system (VMS) to go to sea for exploitation; at the same time, focusing on solving jobs, livelihoods and appropriate support policies for fishermen.